Sustainable production

Full power for the climate

The production of sugar is energy-intensive – we need steam to dissolve sugar from the beet and bring it to crystallisation. That is why we are working particularly hard to reduce our carbon footprint in production and to do this we are relying on new technologies as well as modernisation and efficiency improvements as well as energy from renewable sources. On the way to CO₂ neutrality, which we want to achieve by 2050 at the latest, we have formulated science-based climate targets (SBT), which we have externally validated – for maximum transparency and measurable impact. To achieve this, the energy required to produce one tonne of sugar is to be halved by 2045. As early as 2030, we want to have halved our direct CO₂ emissions compared to the 2017-2019 average.

Parallel to the measures in our plants, we are driving forward the development of renewable energy sources. For example, the use of beet pulp for biogas production could cover a large part of our future energy needs – valuable potential that we want to exploit.

A look at the project: GoGreen

A big goal needs careful planning. That’s why we bundle the measures related to our climate protection ambitions under the umbrella of the GoGreen programme. A project team made up of colleagues from different departments sets the guidelines and creates a roadmap for each of our plants. In this way, we provide the sites with a roadmap that shows how CO₂ reduction can be achieved in different ways, for example by increasing energy efficiency. Although we share a common vision, the circumstances at the individual sites differ from one another. We take this into account by having the local colleagues make the final decision in consultation with the GoGreen experts.

Projects under implementation include a multi-stage modernisation in the sugar house of our Polish factory in Opalenica including a conversion of the crystallisation process, the installation of a new extraction tower in Uelzen and the optimisation of the use of heating steam at the Nordstemmen site.