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Environmental

Staying accountable for our own environmental impact. As we reduce emissions and the burden on landfills by repurposing byproducts from the animal agriculture and food industries, we maintain accountability for our own environmental impact.
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Our commitment

Scope 1 and 2 emissions reduction goal

We have set a goal to reduce scope 1 and 2 emissions 42% by 2030 and we plan to submit our target to the Science Based Targets initiative for validation by the end of 2024.

 

*Cautionary statements regarding forward-looking information

Our principles

Leadership in circularity and resource use

  • Emissions

  • Water

  • Circularity

Greenhouse gas emissions and energy use

We strategically focus on both energy efficiency and emissions reducing actions. In recent years, we have invested significantly in energy efficiency projects by upgrading equipment at our plants. As we assess equipment replacement or upgrades, energy efficiency and emissions reductions remain key considerations in our capital planning and decision-making process.


We are also exploring opportunities with our fleet managers to reduce transportation-related emissions. Addressing fleet emissions—which constitute ~9% of our total emissions—poses unique challenges due to the heavy-duty nature of our fleet operations. In the EU, we are working to use natural gas to fuel parts of our international fleet in 2024.
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Water

Water is a vital resource for healthy communities and ecosystems. We responsibly manage the water we use and generate in our operations, and we are committed to monitoring and mitigating water risks. In 2023, our global water intensity remained consistent with our substantial improvement in the prior year.

 

Our facilities explore and employ a variety of water recovery and reuse processes that help increase efficiency, including:

  • High-pressure and low-flow wash systems;
  • Steam condensate recovery and return systems;
  • Waste heat capture and reuse for evaporative processes; and
  • Water conservation plans for operations in higher water-risk areas.

 

Although these processes differ based on the function of each facility, together, they are critical for achieving our water goals. For example, whereas our collagen and gelatin production process requires withdrawing more water than we produce, our rendering process results in a net water gain.

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Circularity

We help move the world toward a more circular economy. We restore purpose to millions of tons of material from the animal agriculture and food industries – helping to nourish people, feed animals and crops, and fuel the world with renewable energy. 

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Solutions

Sustainability in action

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Renewable Energy Use in South America
Our plants in South America use 97% Renewable Energy, utilizing renewable biomass as their primary energy source.
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Renewable energy use in the Netherlands
At our Rendac facilities, we launched two renewable energy projects in 2023. The first was the installation of on-site solar panels to generate renewable energy. Complementing this initiative, we also transitioned to use biogas instead of natural gas for our thermal incinerator.
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Renewable energy production in Europe
In Europe, we produced enough renewable gas to supply ~5,500 homes, and enough renewable electricity to power ~52,000 homes.
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Solar panels in Spain
Rousselot Girona is the first site within Rousselot to produce its own renewable electricity through solar panels installed in early 2023. These solar panels generated 231 MWh of renewable energy in 2023.
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Renewable energy

Sustainable aviation fuel

We are pioneering sustainable solutions in aviation through our Diamond Green Diesel (DGD) joint venture. Under construction and on track to produce Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) in late 2024, our SAF project represents a pivotal endeavor in the global effort to reduce aviation emissions. It will enable approximately 50% of the plant’s production to be upgraded to SAF—making DGD one of the largest SAF manufacturers in the world.
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