Pharmaceuticals giant AstraZeneca has partnered with sustainability consultants ERM, and supply chain intelligence platform Secaro, to launch the Clean Heat Program which is aimed at helping industry to transition to low-carbon heat across complex global supply chains.
The partners said that while many companies have established climate targets, industrial process heat remains a major barrier to progress, accounting for 18% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Despite rising regulatory scrutiny, increasing energy price volatility and growing pressure from customers and investors, heat decarbonisation efforts often stall due to limited data, technical complexity and financing challenges, they said.
Research conducted with AstraZeneca suppliers showed that most industrial heat still comes from gas-fired boilers and steam systems. It found that 80% of facility emissions sit in Scope 1 and that 60% of those emissions came from natural gas: less than 10% of the suppliers use biofuels for direct energy.
With industrial heating accounting for a large share of energy use and emissions in supply chains, AstraZeneca said that it joined the program as a founding partner to work with peers and suppliers to address heat as a “priority emissions hotspot.”
“It’s clear that a program like this is the fastest and most effective way to decarbonise heat in our supply chain,” said Rob Williams, senior director of sustainable procurement at AstraZeneca. “We are long-term partners with Secaro and ERM, and now we’re expanding our relationships with peers, buyers from industries, and suppliers, to plan, fund and launch the projects that will make heat decarbonisation a reality. This level of collaboration is essential.”
With AstraZeneca’s role including contributing to the development of the program, as well as cross-industry collaboration, the Clean Heat Program brings together Secaro’s global supply chain intelligence platform with ERM’s technical expertise to provide “practical, implementation-focused support” to help business and their supplier overcome barriers moving to low-carbon heat.
“Decarbonising heat is now business critical,” said Emily Prior, chief growth officer at Secaro. “Many organisations are looking at heat in isolation, comparing the current gas bill to a full switch to biomethane, for example. In order to succeed in decarbonising supply chain heat, businesses need to take a more holistic approach that starts with efficiency, and then moves to decarbonising fuels, so that the economics work.”
The Clean Heat Program is aimed at procurement, sustainability, and operations teams responsible for supplier performance and Scope 3 emissions reductions, and builds on progress made by schemes such as the Sustainable Markets Initiative which is a private sector organisation for sustainable transition. The Clean Heat Program will also work closely with projects led by the Pharmaceutical Supply Chain Initiative.
The partners add that organisations are invited to register their interest in joining the first cohort of founding members.
Further reading:
- Decarbonisation and circular economy R&D gets €40 million boost
- UK centre will train leaders in industrial decarbonisation
- Business leaders call for acceleration in decarbonisation
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