The chief executive of Danone, Antoine de Saint-Affrique, has visited the company’s Irish plant in Co. Wexford as part of a new global energy excellence programme.
The recently launched Re-Fuel programme aims to improve energy efficiency by 30% by 2025 within the food and drink business.
Danone said that it “will harness digital innovation and its existing engineering expertise to drive energy efficiency and accelerate its decarbonisation journey”.
The company will also grow its partnerships with local renewable energy providers.
By the end of the decade, more than half of the energy used by Danone will be renewable, while all of of its electricity will come from sources such as biogas, biomass, solar and hydrogen.
According to Danone, this will “make its operations more agile, energy and cost efficient, resilient and more sustainable”.
Employing over 700 people in Ireland, Danone Ireland purchases some €100 million worth of Irish dairy produce each year.
It has also invested €250 million in its factories in Wexford and Macroom in Co. Cork in the last 10 years.
Danone’s Wexford supply point was the first formula milk factory in the world to be certified carbon neutral by the Carbon Trust, and the first specialised nutrition plant to install a biomass boiler which allows carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions to be reduced.
The project between the Irish Wood Producers and Danone, involves the biomass boiler being powered by sustainable wood fuel sourced from the local wood chipping industry.
Danone said that this allows farmers to generate income by producing forest biomass on unused land.