ESPOO, Finland -- Valmet's Climate Program - Forward to a carbon neutral future - was launched in 2021. The program covers the entire value chain and includes four key targets for the supply chain, Valmet's own operations and the use of Valmet's technologies by its customers for 2030. Year 2023 marks two significant milestones for the program.
Carbon neutral production enabled for pulp and paper industry customers
Valmet has estimated that around 95 percent of its carbon footprint originates from the use phase of Valmet's technologies by its customers and the program emphasizes this part of the value chain with two targets: to enable 100 percent carbon neutral production for all pulp and paper industry customers and to improve the energy efficiency of Valmet's current technology offering by 20 percent by 2030. Valmet has now reached the first one of these two targets.
"When it comes to the first target, we have had excellent progress as we already reached our goal this year. We now offer carbon neutral production opportunities for our pulp, paper, board, and tissue customers, with the precondition that the customer has bioenergy or carbon neutral electricity in use. Carbon neutral production can be achieved by combining the best available technologies, optimizing mill design and selecting the right automation, Industrial Internet and service solutions," says Janne Pynnönen, VP, R&D at Valmet.
"Among the key innovations in reaching this final stage has been the development of electrical heating of paper and board coating machines, while for tissue machines we have developed a fossil-free alternative for Yankee cylinder and Hood heating," he continues.
Furthermore, many of Valmet's customers' chemical pulp mills using the company's technologies are bioenergy self-sufficient, enabling carbon neutral pulp production and even selling of excess renewable energy.
"Lime kilns are typically the biggest source of fossil CO2 in pulp mills. Over the years, we have developed and delivered several fossil-free lime kilns based on biomass gasification or wood powder firing," says Ari Saario, VP, Strategy and R&D, Pulp & Energy at Valmet.
For energy customers, Valmet has already long enabled carbon neutral heat and power production with biomass-based energy solutions.
100 percent carbon neutral electricity purchases reached in Finland and Sweden
In its own operations, Valmet targets to reduce CO2 emissions by 80 percent by 2030. The emissions from fuels, heating and electricity have already been reduced by 50% since the baseline year 2019. A major new milestone will be achieved by end of 2023 as Valmet reaches 100% carbon neutral electricity purchases in Finland and Sweden.
"The impact is significant, as these countries represent 60% of Valmet's total electricity consumption and about 30% of the company's total CO2 emissions from electricity usage. Through this, we are saving a total of 32,000 tonnes of CO2 annually, which is equivalent to driving almost 223 million kilometers by car," says Victoria Larsson, VP, HSE at Valmet.
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