Finland-headed oil refiner and renewable fuels and chemicals producer Neste Oyj is committed to reaching carbon-neutral production by 2035. The commitment complements Neste’s other strategic climate commitment of reducing customers’ greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by at least 20 million tonnes annually by 2030.
Neste’s purpose is to create a healthier planet for our children. We do this by offering renewable and circular solutions to our customers. But what is more, we also need to commit to reducing the direct climate impact of our own activities. Therefore, we have set a concrete milestone to reach carbon-neutral production by 2035. This is an enormous undertaking, one which will require new ways of thinking, innovation and plenty of cooperation, said Peter Vanacker, President, and CEO of Neste.
All aspects of GHG emissions in Neste’s production will be analyzed. The company has already identified more than 50 different measures and actions to decrease GHG emissions in production which covers emissions in Scopes 1 and 2 as defined by the Greenhouse Gas Protocol. For example, Neste:
- Continues to focus on energy efficiency to optimize the use of fuel gas, electricity, hydrogen and steam in its production. The improvements in the turnaround at Porvoo refinery in 2020 will decrease production emissions by more than 100 kt CO2eq annually;
- Increases the use of renewable electricity at its production sites. As an example of this, Neste has already agreed to start using wind power in Finland;
- Increases the weight of greenhouse gas emissions in the investment calculations and business case evaluation;
- Explores new, less emitting production methods, for example utilizing biogas or electrolysis for hydrogen production;
- Has started a project for GHG emission reductions at the Porvoo production site, focusing on carbon capture & storage; and
- Identifies reliable compensation models for the remaining part which cannot be achieved by emission reductions.
Neste is working on rolling out the detailed plan and timeline for implementing the initiatives with a clear strategic direction – carbon-neutral production by 2035. The commitment is in line with Finland’s ambitious target for carbon neutrality by 2035 and ahead of the European Union’s respective target for 2050.
In addition to the carbon-neutral production commitment, Neste will compensate the emissions from its employee business flights through the use of the company’s own sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). Neste aims to implement the target through aviation partnerships.
The company has already joined KLM’s corporate biofuel program in 2019. Neste has also announced its partnership with Finnair in March 2020, where one of the targets is to reduce Neste employees’ own emissions on Finnair flights with the use of SAF.
I would like to thank our committed people for their hard work in already having identified and started the implementation of concrete actions across the organization. Emission reduction is a fundamental requirement and an enormous challenge in our industry. Together with our partners, we are actively looking into new technologies and solutions to make this transformation happen, concluded Peter Vanacker.
