Decarbonization
Reducing greenhouse gas emissions is a key focus area in BHJ’s sustainability strategy. Following the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, which is a widely used international accounting tool, we categorize our emissions in three scopes.
| Scope 1 | Scope 2 | Scope 3 |
| Occur as a direct result of our activities, such as the burning of fuels at our plants. | Occur from the use of purchased electricity, steam, heating, and cooling. | Occur from our upstream and downstream activities within our supply chain. |
Science-based emission reduction targets
By establishing the baseline emissions from our operations and activities around the world, we have found that the largest emission contributors within scope 1 and 2 are heating and electricity. To reduce emissions from these sources, we have therefore committed ourselves to setting near-term company-wide emission reduction targets in line with climate science with the SBTi (Science Based Targets initiative). Specifically, we are committed to:
- Sourcing 80% of our electricity consumption from renewable energy sources by 2025.
- Sourcing 100% of our electricity consumption from renewable energy sources by 2030.
In addition to these targets, we are continuously expanding the scope of our sustainability activities to include more focus areas.
Avoid, reduce, compensate
In order to keep the greenhouse gases that occur during production as low as possible, we aim to avoid, reduce, or compensate our CO2e emissions. By following this approach, we have reached the great milestone of having carbon neutral operations in 4 production sites and one office so far.
How does it work?
Avoid: Where possible, we completely avoid CO2 emissions by choosing the right solutions.
Reduction: Not all CO2 emissions can be completely avoided. But wherever it is unavoidable, we aim to reduce our emissions as much as possible.
Compensate: We offset all CO2 emissions that we cannot prevent with our climate partner, THG. Here, we are working with various projects to compensate the remaining emissions from our operations.
Reducing emissions across our locations in Spain
The first steps towards lowering our emissions were taken in 2017. At that time, we launched several initiatives aimed at lowering emissions from our locations in Spain. We installed solar panels at our plant in Cardona, which produces approximately 10% of the electricity needed at the plant on an annual basis. We also started purchasing electricity from renewable sources for all our locations in Spain. At present, all electricity consumed at our locations in Spain comes from renewable sources, which has effectively reduced our emissions from electricity to zero.
In terms of heating, our plants use liquified petroleum and natural gas in the production of pet food ingredients. So far, we have not been able to replace these heating sources with more sustainable alternatives, and as a result, we emit 616t CO2e (CO2 equivalent) across our production sites on an annual basis. We have chosen to compensate for these emissions by investing in wind energy projects in Thailand.
Reducing emissions at our headquarter and plant in Gråsten
Our headquarter and plant in Gråsten, Denmark, is heated by district heating from a local supplier. The heating is generated from burning surplus straw delivered by local farmers and has an emission factor of 14,63kg CO2e per MWh, which is comparatively lower to other heating sources. We have therefore been able to lower our emissions from heating all the way down to 15,42t CO2e.
Emissions from our electricity consumption remain high at 1186t CO2e. By 2023, we aim to reduce these emissions through purchasing power agreements that secure investments in the establishment of new solar parks and/or wind farms. Until the agreements are implemented, we will compensate for the remaining emissions from our headquarter and plant in Gråsten through energy efficiency projects in Mexico.
