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AAK ­ Responsible Growth 2012-2013 - UK

Resource efficiency 22 | AAK Responsible Growth We continue to take a holistic approach to our sustainability improvements, taking into account our suppliers, our own operations and manufacturing processes, as well as our logistics. We always strive to improve performance. By ensuring our equipment is in optimal condition and by employing best-in-class processes across our business, we ensure that we continuously improve performance. We focus on best available technologies, where we are developing a number of new opportunities together with our equipment providers to considerably reduce energy consumption across our business sectors. We are in the process of implementing a new planning tool in two of our largest sites. This will enable us to plan better and to optimise our supply chain, reducing stocks to a minimum, whilst also reducing transportation, through optimisation of routes and loads. We are developing micro-bubble technology to improve yield performance in the UK. The tiny bubbles are produced in the soft crude oil by a pioneering ‘nano-cavitation’ system. This David Smith Vice President AarhusKarlshamn AB and President European Supply Chain makes the mixing of the oil with the processing aids much more efficient, allowing us to use less of them. On these pages, you can see just a few examples of the improvements we have made to our business and where we have significantly reduced our consumption of energy, whilst improving productivity and reducing waste. Our operational mission is to be the leader in our field, and our approach is to focus on global supply chain organisation, where we all learn from each other and share best practices. To do this, we review our supply chains from end to end for sustainability, and every year our global heads of operations meet to share best practices. It may take time to achieve our ambition and vision, but by stating our intentions we can develop long-term plans. We also believe in establishing KPIs and in setting short-term objectives with strategic milestones for monitoring progress. This two-pronged approach, employed over the past few years, has made our program the success it is today. Rising energy costs and the link between energy consumption and impact on the climate have sparked an increasing focus on energy issues. Responsible growth is only possible if energy consumption and costs are kept as low as possible. Due to our relatively high energy consumption, efforts to increase energy efficiency and, where possible, move towards renewable energy sources are important. The type of energy used at our production plants varies considerably and very much depends on location. In Montevideo, Uruguay, all direct energy consumed is derived from biomass, while for example in Louisville and Kentucky, both in the US, all energy comes from coal. Some production plants have their own power plant and sell energy in the form of steam and electricity externally. To account for this, the total energy consumption given in this report refers to energy purchased plus energy generated minus energy sold. In 2012, our production plants had a combined direct energy consumption of 3,900,000 Gj, an increase of 1.9 percent compared to 2011. Direct energy consumption from renewable resources constitutes 28 percent. During the same period, electricity purchases (indirect energy consumption) increased by 14.5 percent to 740,000 Gj. The proportion of green electricity constitutes 40 percent. Several sites are purchasing 100 percent green electricity. Overall, then, total energy consumption reached 3,888,000 Gj, an increase of 1.9 percent. Calculated per tonne produced, energy consumption has decreased by 0.2 percent despite our strategic decision to increase production of highly refined products which, all other things being equal, require more energy to process. The proportion of energy from renewable sources is in line with our energy consumption objective: we want to utilise renewable sources of energy and new green technologies to a greater extent. Energy Direct energy consumption 2012 Per energy Purchased electricity 2012 Total energy consumption 2009 2010 2011 2012 Biomass 24% Fuel oil 39% Gas 33% Non renewable 60% Renewable 40% Biofuel 4% X 1000 Gj 4,500 4,000 3,500 3,000 2,500 2,000 1,500 1,000 500 0


AAK ­ Responsible Growth 2012-2013 - UK
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