James Cropper, a leader in Advanced Materials and Paper Products, has been awarded £4.2million to support a pioneering engineering solution to electrify its heat demand. The innovation was developed in house by James Cropper’s expert team.
The funding has been awarded as part of the Government’s Industrial Energy Transformation Fund (IETF) designed to support industry on the path to energy demand reduction and Net Zero.
As a business in an energy intensive industry, the majority of James Cropper’s energy and emissions result from heat demand. Decarbonising this heat will be the focus of the IETF funded deployment project and will deliver a step-change reduction in primary energy usage. This will require an overhaul of how energy is consumed and managed on site.
The project is expected to result in a 24.3% reduction of annual gas consumption by over 47,000 MWh and in over 8,600 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions.
The success of the programme will put James Cropper on track to deliver significant decarbonisation advances and act as a crucial reference case for other large heat consumers to follow. James Cropper will actively seek to inspire change within and beyond the paper industry, helping others on their decarbonisation journeys.
Steve Adams, CEO, James Cropper, comments; “At James Cropper, we have ambitious plans to eliminate our direct emissions. The support from IETF will enable us to make the first step-change on this journey, by electrifying our heat we can decouple our business from fossil fuels. We hope this investment will be an exemplar for other heat intensive businesses to follow and accelerate their own transitions to net-zero.”
James Cropper’s goal is to be operationally net zero by 2030 and to reduce carbon through its entire supply chain to net zero by 2050. The IETF funding will enable James Cropper to deliver the industry-first programme by providing essential capital support to retrofit the engineering solution to existing equipment within a new low carbon energy centre. This will be the first part in delivering a multi-stage programme to reach the business’ 2030 goals.
Established in 1845, the Group manufactures advanced materials incorporating pioneering non-wovens and electrochemical coatings, as well as creative papers and luxury packaging. Ranging from substrates and components in hydrogen electrolysis and fuel cells to bespoke colours and textures in paper and moulded fibre packaging designed to replace single use plastics.
A purpose-led business, built upon six generations of the Cropper family, James Cropper has a 600+ international workforce and an operational reach in over 50 countries.
