Environmental Responsibility

Throughout our value chain we encourage and promote the most efficient use of resources to minimize environmental impact and prioritize environmental protection. Innovation is at the core of this strategy. We continuously focus on creating new methods for improving yields and minimizing waste in food production by reducing the use of scarce resources such as energy and water while promoting food safety, traceability and animal welfare.

One of our sustainability goals is to help our customers use less water and energy while minimizing their CO² footprint during production. A number of projects have been implemented to support precautionary approaches to environmental challenges. We have undertaken initiatives to promote greater environmental responsibility along our entire value chain.

In 2017 we added a Sustainability Scorecard to the product development process, which encourages inclusion of sustainable features from the beginning of the product development process.

Energy

Projects that we have instituted to minimize energy consumption at Marel include installing car charging points for employees and visitors who own electric cars, replacing regular light bulbs with LED lighting where feasible and undertaking a number of local projects prioritizing energy efficiency. We are also constantly upgrading our own manufacturing equipment to increase its energy efficiency along with other capabilities.

Our primary energy sources are natural gas and renewables with almost 47% of all electricity consumed by Marel produced by burning natural gas and 40% obtained from renewables.

Energy consumption & intensity

	2017	2016
Total GWh	28.7	26.2
KWh per m²	83.0	94.8
KWh per employee	5,912	5,706

CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY

Promoting Sustainable Use of Water

One example of how we work to protect the environment and promote sustainability is our water treatment systems, which are designed to ensure the most efficient use of water. These include systems that treat waste water so that it can be re-used in food processing operations. Food processing requires significant amounts of water, both for the processing itself as well as for other functions. It inevitably produces large quantities of waste water. We have developed expertise in the treatment of such waste water through more than five decades of partnership with our customers.

A plant processing 650 pigs per hour over 16 hours (two eight-hour shifts) consumes on average 2600 m³ of water per day

A SOLUTION TO FIT EVERY CUSTOMER

Marel’s Curieau® water treatment system is just one example of many systems we have designed for different specific water treatment purposes. Curieau® has been developed as a production or re-use system using biologically pre-treated waste water. The processed water can be used for cooling towers, truck and crate washing and other secondary systems with no direct contact with end products. As clean water becomes an increasingly scarce and valuable resource, being able to treat waste water so that it can be re-used in processing operations, as is done with the Curieau® system, rather than simply discharging it is one way we promote environmental sustainability.

Marel Water Treatment

CARBON EMISSIONS

Despite our efforts to continually minimize our environmental footprint, overall carbon emissions have risen simply due to the fact that the company continues to expand. The two largest indirect contributors to our carbon footprint are energy consumption in Marel facilities and employee air travel.

In order to better understand the indirect carbon footprint of the energy we consume in our facilities, all locations now report on the generation source of energy used to produce the electricity used in our facilities.

This data is then processed by our collaborators from Circular Solutions who verify our carbon footprint.

Scope 1 emissions are very limited because no Stationary Combustion occurs in facilities controlled by Marel and Mobile Combustion is limited to only 150 vehicles. Scope 1 is therefore not measured.
Scope 2 emissions data are solely from the electricity and heating used in our offices and manufacturing facilities.
Scope 3 emissions are mainly the result of employee air travel. Logistics are not included.

In order to understand and minimize our indirect carbon footprint, all of our larger facilities are installing an energy monitoring system from eTactica. Locations undergoing renovations are also installing solar cells on their roofs to generate locally some of the energy consumed on site.

Because Marel’s company network spans the globe, air travel by Marel employees has a negative impact on the environment. As carbon emissions from the aviation industry are considered a leading contributor to global warming, we feel it is important to understand our role and what we can do about it.

In 2016, we established a new travel platform to monitor the environmental impact caused by employee travel. By collecting and visualizing this data we have already made improvements and identified possibilities for reducing our carbon footprint when it comes to employee travel.

Through our travel policy, we will strive to continuously lower our carbon footprint by actively encouraging employees to use alternative means of meeting and communicating with each other and our customers.

Total Carbon Emissions

As yet, Marel lacks a complete overview of the organization’s total carbon emissions. We will nevertheless continue our work on measuring our footprint and improve - wherever we can - our understanding of the company’s impact on the environment and efforts in response.

Marel is currently not participating in carbon offsetting programs or green energy certification. We will continue to increase the prevalence of renewable energy used by procuring cleaner energy wherever possible as well as improving efficiency in our production processes, employee travel and other operations.

Carbon emission and intensity

	2017
Total kgCO₂e	21,231,964
kgCO₂e per FTE	4,322
kgCO₂e per €1,000 of revenues	20.44

Animal Welfare

Our commitment toward social responsibility extends beyond our employees and customers. Because we are in the food processing business, animal welfare is high on our agenda particularly for research and development. In 2017, a sustainability scorecard was introduced as part of the company’s innovation process, where a number of sustainability indicators play a role in deciding the feasibility of taking projects into further development. By highlighting animal welfare in the sustainability scorecard we are ensuring environmental and economic responsibility in the most crucial stages of the lifecycle of the product. By instituting good animal welfare practices in general, we can increase the quality of products and production while simultaneously reducing the carbon footprint of food processors using Marel solutions.

Over the years, we have introduced a number of innovative solutions that take animal welfare into greater consideration. These include:

Throughout the food processing industry, it has become mandatory for companies to follow guidelines of social responsibility and sustainability in their operations and to consider the effects they have on people, the planet and profits. We are determined to stay ahead of the general market trends and continue our focus on developing solutions that respect the highest standards of animal welfare.

ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSIBILITY

PEOPLE PLANET PROFIT