Energy switch cuts salmon producer's emissions by 8%
Major Chilean producer Multiexport Foods said it has become the first salmon farmer in the world to receive renewable energy certification after switching processing plants to green power.
During 2019 the company supplied its Cardonal plants, located in Puerto Montt, only with Non-Conventional Renewable Energies (ERNC), registering an annual energy consumption of 16 GWh from renewable sources, it said in a press release.
As a consequence, the company managed to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by approximately 6,000 tonnes of CO2e (cardon dioxide equivalent), which corresponds to 8% of the firm’s total carbon footprint.
Low-carbon economy
“This is a significant step in the development of more sustainable and environmentally friendly operations,” said Multiexport Foods sustainability and corporate affairs manager Francisco Lobos.
“Multiexport Foods’ decision to prefer the use of renewable energy is key to accelerating the transition to a low-carbon economy and helping to decarbonise the national energy matrix.”
The choice of 100% renewable energy supply is one of several measures promoted by the company in terms of climate action, along with managing resources and optimising the consumption of materials and fuel.
Footprint
The salmon farmer has also registered its carbon footprint in Huella Chile, an initiative that seeks to promote the quantification, reporting and management of corporate GHG emissions in the public and private sphere, and was recently incorporated into the world’s most important sustainability indicator, the Dow Jones Sustainability Index.
Multiexport Foods harvested nearly 72,000 tonnes of Atlantic salmon and 10,000 tonnes of coho salmon in 2018, and was Chile’s largest exporter of smoked salmon.
