Kimberly-Clark UK & Ireland (K-C) has announced it is the first major consumer products company in the UK to make a significant commitment to green hydrogen.
Along with its energy partners Carlton Power and HYRO, K-C is investing over £125m into the energy solution at its two plants in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria and Northfleet, Kent.
Combined, the two sites produce nearly one billion Andrex toilet rolls and over 150 million boxes of Kleenex tissues every year.
Through the investment, K-C said it expects to see a 50% reduction versus its 2024 consumption of natural gas across its UK production lines from 2027.
The two long-term offtaker hydrogen supply agreements signed with energy partners Carlton Power, and HYRO will mean a green hydrogen facility is installed next to K-C’s Barrow plant, while a separate facility will be built on K-C’s Northfleet plant.
These two green hydrogen projects are being supported with funding from the UK government after being selected for the Government’s Hydrogen Production Business Model (HPBM) and Net Zero Hydrogen Fund (NZHF) – a global first (also known as Hydrogen Allocation Round One – HAR1).
The Barrow hydrogen project will supply 100GWh of hydrogen per annum while the Northfleet project will supply 47GWh per annum.
Collectively the displacement of natural gas with hydrogen will reduce carbon emissions by 28,500 tonnes per annum, equivalent to removing approximately 20,000 petrol cars off the road every year*.
Dan Howell, Vice President and Managing Director at K-C UK & Ireland, said: “This is a significant investment into a green hydrogen solution, and alongside other investments that support our ambition to move our UK manufacturing operations to 100% renewable energy by 2030.
“Now is the right time for us to tap into hydrogen’s significant potential, improving energy supply and our decarbonisation needs.
“We are delighted to be the first UK consumer goods manufacturer to really embrace green hydrogen, showing that an energy intensive industry can take the lead and overcome the technical challenge and adopt green hydrogen at scale.
“This initiative builds on the investments and progress we’ve already made with innovative technologies for our business, our consumers and our customers.”
The initiatives are expected to enable Kimberly-Clark UK & Ireland to achieve a total reduction of its operational greenhouse gas emissions by more than 80% in 2027 (vs 2015 baseline).
These improvements will also help Kimberly-Clark meet its sustainability ambitions to achieve a 50% reduction of absolute Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions globally, from a 2015 base year by 2030.
*Emissions equivalency based on UK Government’s average passenger vehicle emission factor: 120 gCO2/km, assuming 12,000 km driven annually.
