A ‘green partnership’ has been announced between Kepak Group and ActionZero in a bid to bring about significant cuts to the Irish-based food-processors’ emissions.
According to a statement from Munster-based climate action solutions company, ActionZero, this green partnership “will form a key part of Kepak’s plans to make its business more sustainable and aims to reduce the carbon emissions of its Athleague site by over 90%”.
The multi-million euro project will be initially delivered at Kepak’s facility in Athleague, Co. Roscommon, with plans to roll out the technology across the Kepak group.
The project will focus on decarbonising heat and the initial project – worth €2.3 million – is expected to grow to a value in excess of €15 million over 10 sites in the next two years, as the technology is rolled out across the group, according to the statement from ActionZero.
Kepak Athleague project
The initial project in Athleague is projected to reduce carbon emissions by more than 90% for the facility, eliminating almost 3,000t of CO2 per year, the equivalent of planting over 200,000 trees.
ActionZero said it is currently working on projects to decarbonise heat in the industry and enterprise sectors, with plans to develop a consumer market offering.
Commenting on the announcement, Kepak group’s CEO, Simon Walker, said: “Kepak fully recognises the importance of taking strong climate action.
“The ActionZero EscoPod system will make a huge contribution to our 2030 group sustainability targets, delivering impressive cost savings and a strong return on investment.
“The project will play a key role in delivering our group sustainability strategy.”
Also commenting on the partnership, ActionZero’s CEO Denis Collins said: “This is a landmark sustainability moment for the food sector – removing carbon emissions, increasing productivity and lowering cost.
“To make sustainability happen, we need to make it profitable, and that’s exactly what we are doing with the ActionZero EscoPod.
“Kepak [is] taking a big step on [its] sustainability journey, supported by our ground-breaking EscoPod technology – we are delighted to be supporting them with this pioneering project for decarbonisation of heat in the food sector.”