Nov 10, 2020, by Gordon Coates

Muntons Set to Decarbonise 100 Million Kilowatt Hours of Heat

Muntons Pr1

Muntons, the UK’s leading malt product manufacturer and distributor, is set to slash its carbon emissions by 15,500 tonnes per year in an exciting new partnership which will see a 15MW biomass boiler installed at its Stowmarket site.

The project is being led by AMP Clean Energy which will operate the energy and steam supply under an Energy Supply Agreement to Muntons for its manufacturing process.  Vital Energi have been appointed as the principal contractor and are working in partnership with AMP clean energy to deliver the £16.5m project.

Regional Director for Vital Energi, Mike Cooke, explains: “This project is a fantastic opportunity to demonstrate how decarbonisation can be made feasible. We worked in partnership with Muntons and AMP Clean Energy to develop a scheme which would maximise both carbon reductions and projects economics, with the result being a reduction in emissions of over 470,000 tonnes over the course of the 20-year contract.

“The food and drink industry is a huge consumer of energy and we believe this partnership is a great example of how manufacturers can decarbonise their processes whilst improving their bottom line.”

Mark Tyldesley, Group Managing Director at Muntons, said: “Muntons is recognised as a leader in sustainability projects throughout the industry. Through our focus on carbon reduction we have already cut greenhouse gas emissions by a quarter over the past ten years, exceeding our climate change agreement target.”

He continued: “The headline Science Based Target (SBT) for manufacturing is to reduce carbon emissions by 87% by 2050. Our Director of Technical and Sustainability, Dr Nigel Davies, has led our systematic approach to carbon reduction as part of our sustainability strategy and we have taken early action long before the SBT were introduced.

“Our emissions reduction journey before 2010 is recognised as contributing to our SBT and our target is to reduce scope 1 and 2 emissions by 45% by 2025 from a 2010 baseline, together with a 30% reduction in scope 3. Crucial to us hitting this target is installing biomass heating at both of our UK malting sites. Working collaboratively with specialists AMP Clean Energy continue to deliver on our mantra of ‘Practical Sustainability’.”

When complete, the energy solution will provide almost all steam, heat and electricity for Muntons’ Stowmarket site. Work has started on site with commissioning scheduled for mid-2021.

This is a major low-carbon project that will deliver significant sustainability benefits for Muntons. Muntons is a true sustainability leader in the food and drink sector and the use of biomass heat is central to its ability to hit its science-based target. It is fantastic that such a major project will come on-line next April, and we are proud to work with trailblazers like Muntons which will assist the UK’s net zero transition.

Richard Burrell, CEO of AMP Clean Energy