DALLAS, Sept. 14, 2017 /PRNewswire/
-- Kimberly-Clark Corporation today announced its first major
commitment to renewable energy with agreements to annually purchase
approximately 1,000,000 megawatt hours (245 megawatts - MW) of
electricity from two new wind power projects in Texas and Oklahoma. The renewable energy supplied by the
wind farms is equivalent to about one-third of the electricity
needs of Kimberly-Clark's North
American manufacturing operations and will enable the company to
surpass its greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction goal four years earlier
than anticipated.
Kimberly-Clark has entered
long-term power purchase agreements to take 120 MW or 78 percent of
electricity to be generated by the Rock Falls Wind project being
developed by EDF Renewables in northern Oklahoma and 125 MW or 42 percent of the
electricity to be generated by the Santa Rita Wind Energy Center
being built by Invenergy in West
Texas. The renewable energy supplied by the two wind farms
will enable Kimberly-Clark to
reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by up to 550,000 metric tons
annually. This is equivalent to removing 116,178 passenger vehicles
from the road or not burning nearly 600 million pounds of coal
annually.1
"These agreements mark Kimberly-Clark's first use of utility-scale
renewable energy and are a step-change in our energy and climate
strategy to reduce climate change impacts, improve operating
efficiency and benefit cost savings," said Lisa Morden, Global Head of Sustainability at
Kimberly-Clark. "Adding
wind-generated electricity to the energy mix will enable the
company to achieve more than a 25 percent reduction in GHG
emissions in 2018, which is four years ahead of the original 2022
target to reduce absolute greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent
from 2005 levels."
"These two renewable energy projects, combined with a number of
other energy initiatives across the company, put Kimberly-Clark on-track to deliver significant
multimillion dollar cost savings from energy and climate projects
by 2022," Morden said. "It's a powerful demonstration of
sustainability initiatives having both great environmental and
business benefits."
These two renewable energy projects build on extensive work
undertaken by Kimberly-Clark to
reduce its carbon footprint and create business value through
greater energy efficiency, conservation and alternative energy
programs including:
- Six large-scale electricity cogeneration facilities with waste
heat recovery, including a seventh project recently announced and
under construction at the company's Mobile, Alabama manufacturing facility (due to
start-up in 2019).
- Four biomass thermal energy generating plants that provide
steam for the company's tissue operations.
- More than 350 energy initiatives completed by the company
across its operations since 2015.
The Rock Falls Wind project will become operational by the end
of 2017, and the Santa Rita facility is expected to begin
commercial operation by the second quarter of 2018. Renewable
Choice Energy helped broker the two agreements.
To support the growth of renewable energy sources, Kimberly-Clark has signed on to the Corporate
Renewable Energy Buyers' Principles, a collaboration of leading
companies seeking simplified access to the renewable electricity to
meet their clean and low carbon energy goals.
"We used the Renewable Energy Buyers' Principles when evaluating
the business case for pursuing the offtake of utility-scale
renewable energy with the EDF and Invenergy projects. Therefore, it
was a natural but significant step for us to formally sign on and
publicly endorse the Renewable Energy Buyers' Principles," said
Stewart Van Horn, Director of Global
Energy Solutions at Kimberly-Clark.
The Buyers' Principles tell utilities and other suppliers what
industry-leading, multinational companies are looking for when
buying renewable energy from the grid. The project is facilitated
by World Resources Institute and World Wildlife Fund.
For more information on Kimberly-Clark's Sustainability 2022 strategy,
including the energy and climate program, visit
www.sustainability2022.com.
1 According to US EPA Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies
calculations.
Notes to Editors
- Kimberly-Clark was recognized
as a 2016 Climate Leader by the EPA for Excellence in Greenhouse
Gas Management "Goal Achievement Award" and one of only 17 Climate
Leadership Awards given nationwide for reducing greenhouse gas
emissions.
- In 2015, Kimberly-Clark set a
2022 target to reduce its absolute greenhouse gas emissions by 20%
from 2005 levels.
- Kimberly-Clark developed and
validated this goal using the Science Based Targets process
utilizing the Sector Decarbonization Model to ensure the company
contributed its share to global emissions reduction, and to
encourage others within its supply chain and category to do so as
well.
- This goal was reviewed and validated by World Wildlife Fund
(WWF), World Resources Institute (WRI) and the Carbon Disclosure
Project (CDP).
- Kimberly-Clark is working to
update its greenhouse gas emissions reduction target to continue to
further reduce carbon emissions and plans to register this goal
with ScienceBasedTargets.Org.
About Kimberly-Clark
Kimberly-Clark (NYSE: KMB) and its well-known
global brands are an indispensable part of life for people in more
than 175 countries. Every day, nearly a quarter of the world's
population trust Kimberly-Clark's
brands and the solutions they provide to enhance their health,
hygiene, and well-being. With brands such as Kleenex, Scott,
Huggies, Pull-Ups, Kotex and Depend, Kimberly-Clark holds No. 1 or No. 2 share
positions in 80 countries. To keep up with the latest news and to
learn more about the company's 145-year history of innovation,
visit www.kimberly-clark.com or follow us on Facebook or
Twitter.
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