Leo Varadkar, Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, officially opened C&C Group’s new Sustainability Project at the Bulmers cider-manufacturing facility in Clonmel, Co. Tipperary, on Friday 18 February.
The Bulmers Sustainability Project includes the installation of what is now the largest rooftop solar panel farm in Ireland, which will reduce the Clonmel site’s carbon emissions by 4%, saving 286,746kg of CO2 per year, and almost ten million kilograms over the next 20 years, the company noted.
Varadkar commented, “Enterprise has a really important role to play in bringing down our emissions, and it’s great to see companies taking the lead and setting an example with their actions.”
The Tánaiste highlighted that the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment recently launched a website, ClimateToolkit4Business.gov.ie, “which is a good place to start for any company thinking of making changes themselves.”
“It’s so important that we help businesses, no matter what stage they are at,” he added.
Solar Panels
The solar panels provide 10% of electricity used on site, meaning that 100% of the electricity used in the Bulmers manufacturing facility in Clonmel is provided by renewable sources.
Additionally, the company noted that it has committed significant investment into ‘dry end’ packaging machinery, to reduce the environmental impact and ecological footprint of consumer packaging.
Plastic Reduction
As of January 2022, plastic is no longer used in the packaging of C&C Group’s canned products in Clonmel, which will result in 100 million mid-cone rings per annum being removed from the environment, the company highlighted.
These initiatives form part of C&C Group’s comprehensive ESG strategy, which includes working with the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) to reduce Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 35%, and Scope 3 emissions by 25%, by 2030.
C&C Group has also pledged to be a carbon-neutral business by 2050.
Joining Varadkar and colleagues from the Bulmers site in Clonmel to officially open the project, C&C Group CEO David Forde added, “This initiative forms part of our broader C&C Group ESG strategy and demonstrates our commitment to be a carbon-neutral business by 2050 and deliver to a better world.”
© 2022 Checkout – your source for the latest Irish retail news. Article by Donna Ahern. For more retail news, click here. Click sign up to subscribe to Checkout.
