Paulig’s popcorn factory in Puig-reig is now carbon neutral
Paulig’s popcorn factory in Puig-reig (Barcelona, Spain) has reached carbon neutrality and achieved the CarbonNeutral® building certification. The factory produces microwave popcorn and popcorn packaging for customer brands and uses 100% renewable energy. The factory’s unavoidable CO2 emissions are compensated through forestation and forest conservation projects. With the certification, Puig-reig became the sixth out of a total 10 of Paulig factories to have achieved carbon neutrality.
Puig-reig factory is part of Liven, a Spanish-based Tex Mex and snacking company that Paulig acquired at the beginning of 2022. The factory produces microwave popcorn and paper innerbags for popcorn packaging.
Carbon neutrality at the factory was achieved by reducing production emissions and compensating for unavoidable emissions through afforestation and forest conservation projects.
“At Paulig, we follow a reduction first, compensation second approach, which means we reduce emissions by switching to renewable energy sources for our own operations. Puig-reig uses 100% renewable energy in the form of a combination consisting of hydroelectric, wind and on-site solar energy and biomass fuel. Hence, the factory’s CO2 emissions are very low, close to zero. The unavoidable emissions are then compensated for through afforestation and forest conservation programmes in our high-risk areas in South-America, Africa and South-East Asia,” says Lea Rankinen, Paulig’s Director of Sustainability and Public Affairs.
The CarbonNeutral® building certification is provided by Climate Impact Partners and is in accordance with The CarbonNeutral Protocol, the leading framework for carbon neutrality. The Protocol is a publicly available standard and guide developed for business by business that draws together leading independent standards for greenhouse gas accounting into a practical guide to carbon neutrality. (1)
“We are very happy to have received the certification. We have put a lot of effort in recent years into making our production more sustainable and, for example, we have invested in our own renewable energy production. Currently, the on-site solar panels at Puig-reig cover around 30% of the site’s electricity needs. Now, as part of Paulig, we will continue our journey and together build a sustainable food culture that is better for both people and the planet,” says a delighted Salvador Montagut, CEO of Liven.
Liven has one of the widest snack and Tex Mex product portfolios in Europe, and all of its products are fully plant-based.
“We see a lot of growth potential in both Snacking and Tex Mex, alongside our other main categories Coffee and Spices. Paulig is already the Tex Mex market leader in Europe and our products are sold in 70 countries. With sustainable production and operations, along with 100% plant-based products, Liven joining us will both fuel our growth as an international food and beverage company and contribute to our sustainability ambitions,” says Arnauld Demoulin, SVP, Business Area Customer Brands at Paulig.
All Paulig factories carbon neutral by 2023
As a part of its ambitious sustainability approach, Paulig has an overall company goal of reducing by 2030 greenhouse gas emissions in its own operations by 80%, and in its value chain by 50%, compared to the 2018 baseline. Most recently, in February 2022, the CarbonNeutral building certification was received by Paulig’s tortilla factory in Milton Keynes, UK. The company’s goal is to have all Paulig factories carbon neutral by 2023. This will be achieved by switching to renewable sources of fuel and electricity and improving energy efficiency.
Paulig’s sustainability approach is based on the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. Read more about the ambitious targets here.
For more information, please contact:
Lea Rankinen
Director of Sustainability and Public Affairs, Paulig
+358 41 539 4609
About Paulig:
Paulig is a family-owned food and beverage company, growing a new, sustainable food culture – one that is good for both people and the planet. Paulig provides all things tasty; coffees and beverages, Tex Mex and spices, snacks and plant-based choices. The company's brands are Paulig, Santa Maria, Risenta, Poco Loco and Liven. Paulig’s sales amounted to EUR 966 million in 2021. The company has 2,300 passionate employees in 13 different countries working around the purpose For a life full of flavour. www.pauliggroup.com
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About Paulig
Paulig is a family-owned food and beverage company, growing a new, sustainable food culture – one that is good for both people and the planet. Paulig provides all things tasty; coffees and beverages, Tex Mex and spices, snacks and plant-based choices. The company's brands are Paulig, Santa Maria, Risenta, Poco Loco and Liven. Paulig’s sales amounted to EUR 966 million in 2021. The company has 2,200 passionate employees in 13 different countries working around the purpose For a life full of flavour.
www.pauliggroup.com
