Watch for ADM to pioneer biofuels, more carbon capture projects
Watch for ADM to pioneer biofuels, more carbon capture projects
Heather Clancy
Wed, 05/13/2020 - 02:57
Although decarbonization of industrial processes remains a big technical challenge, food processing and commodities giant Archer Daniels Midland recently adopted new commitments to cut its absolute greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent by 2035 — with additional carbon sequestration projects and changes to its transportation fleet figuring largely in that strategy.
ADM also has pledged to decrease energy intensity by 15 percent over the same timeframe.
"Our new goals are ambitious yet achievable," said ADM chairman and CEO Juan Luciano, in a statement when they were revealed in late March. "The greenhouse gas emissions we’ll save will be the equivalent of those from charging every single smartphone on the planet 250 times."
The new commitments , the culmination of a 1.5-year planning process, aren’t officially science-based targets but they are "more aggressive" than the 2 degrees Celsius reduction scenarios suggested by the Paris Agreement, according to ADM’s chief sustainability officer, Alison Taylor.
The new commitments do not yet cover Scope 3 emissions, although that it is a forthcoming priority for the company, she said.
We hope in this trajectory of 15 years there will be technologies that come online that we don’t even know about today.
ADM’s new board-level sustainability and corporate responsibility committee — as well as the whole executive council — played a role in setting the new goals, she said.
A feasibility study conducted by consulting and engineering firm WSP Global summarizes the best courses of action — now and over the next 15 years — that are most viable. "It gives me faith that this will be taken seriously," Taylor told GreenBiz shortly after the new strategy was revealed.
ADM’s list of potential options (as identified by that study) is comprehensive and includes many measures you’d expect for near-term improvement such as renewable energy procurement, investments (although limited) in on-site generation technology including solar, wind, nuclear and battery storage and ongoing energy "treasure hunts" for identifying energy efficiency and reduction opportunities.
Flipping the switch
Another major focus will be "fuel switching," both for its industrial facilities and transportation fleet. This is a daunting task: ADM, which has about 40,000 employees in 200 countries, operates more than 330 food and ingredient manufacturing facilities worldwide. It owns more than 1,800 barges, 12,000 rail cars, 360 trucks, 1,200 trailers, 100 boats and 10 oceangoing vessels. Its leased fleet is just as massive.
According to the WSP assessment, about 46 percent of ADM’s energy consumption in 2018 (28.6 million MWh) was attributable to coal and 33 percent (20.7 million MWh) came from...
