19 December 2019
By Bryan Smyth
bryan@TheCork.ie
ABP has confirmed that its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions targets have been validated by the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi). This process demonstrates the company’s commitment to aligning its sustainability strategy to the global climate change goals as set out in the 2015 Paris Agreement. The new targets include ghg emissions across ABP’s business operations (scope 1 & 2 emissions) and its supply chain (scope 3 emissions).
ABP has confirmed that its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions targets have been validated by the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi). Pictured are the ABP team (L:R) – Sinead Nee, Environmental and Sustainability Officer and John Durkan, Sustainability and Environmental Manager.
ABP has committed to reducing its scope 1&2 emissions by 27% by 2030 against a base year of 2016. The company has already reduced greenhouse gas emissions across its operations by 28% since the beginning of its sustainability programme in 2008. ABP is also committed to leading a reduction of 17% in scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions coming from the supply chain by 2030.
The SBTi is a collaboration between CDP, the United Nations Global Compact, World Resources Institute (WRI) and World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). The initiative uses the latest available climate science to define best practice in science-based target setting and independently assesses companies’ targets against its validation criteria
Some of ABP’s best practice initiatives which are already underway include:
● Last month, ABP In conjunction with Teagasc and The Irish Cattle Breeding Federation announced results from its dairy beef genetic research programme, demonstrating a significant shift in carbon reductions in dairy beef. The findings have proven that is possible to reduce emissions by up to 28% in the dairy beef herd.
● ABP opened the world’s first certified carbon neutral abattoir in Ellesmere in 2015, where waste from the meat processing operation is used in conjunction with used cooking oil to provide the energy requirements for the site.
● ABP’s renewables division, Olleco, has helped Arla’s milk processing facility in Aylesbury to become the first carbon net zero milk processing facility in the world. Olleco’s anaerobic digestion plant in Aylesbury is located adjacent to the milk processing site where it converts waste from the dairy into heat, power and bio-methane for export to the national grid, and bio-fertiliser for farmers. The facility produces enough sustainable energy to power the equivalent of 12,000 homes.
● The company has introduced heat recovery programmes at a number of processing sites including ABP Cahir, ABP Wessex and C&D Esbjerg. These sites have harnessed waste heat from a number of processes and used it to significantly reduce fossil fuel consumption.
Commenting on the announcement, Martin Kane, Managing Director of ABP Ireland said: “We are delighted to have our targets validated by the SBTi. The validation of our targets clearly maps the carbon reduction journey required by ABP so that we can play our part in helping reduce global emissions. We have already made great progress since the introduction of our sustainability strategy in 2008 and we look forward to building on that progress and accelerating our work as we now look to 2030 and beyond.”
