Kimberly-Clark UK invests USD 168M in green hydrogen for sustainable production
The company is positioning itself as an industry leader in green innovation while contributing significantly to the UK’s carbon emission reduction target.
UK – Kimberly-Clark UK & Ireland has made a groundbreaking investment of £125 million(USD 167.89 million) to integrate green hydrogen into its manufacturing processes, marking one of the UK’s first long-term green hydrogen offtake agreements in the consumer goods sector.
This initiative targets sustainable production at its facilities in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, and Northfleet, Kent, which produce nearly one billion Andrex toilet rolls and over 150 million Kleenex tissue boxes annually.
The store is set to offer a more sustainable approach to tissue manufacturing, as these projects aim to decarbonize production by substituting fossil-fuel-based natural gas with cleaner alternatives for steam generation.
The investment supports the construction of green hydrogen facilities, developed in partnership with energy companies Carlton Power and HYRO, a joint venture between Octopus Energy Generation and RES, with backing from the UK government’s Hydrogen Production Business Model and Net Zero Hydrogen Fund.
Green hydrogen, produced via electrolysis powered by renewable energy, will replace a significant portion of the natural gas previously used for steam generation in Kimberly-Clark’s UK operations.
Dan Howell, Vice President and Managing Director at Kimberly-Clark UK & Ireland, stated, “This is a significant investment in a green hydrogen solution, and alongside other investments that support our ambition to move our UK manufacturing operations to 100% renewable energy by 2030.
“We are delighted to be the first UK consumer goods manufacturer to embrace green hydrogen, showing that an energy-intensive industry can take the lead and overcome the technical challenge and adopt green hydrogen at scale.”
Once operational in 2027, these facilities are expected to supply a combined 147 GWh of green hydrogen annually, 100 GWh from Barrow and 47 GWh from Northfleet, allowing Kimberly-Clark to reduce natural gas consumption by 50% compared to 2024 levels.
This transition is projected to cut 28,500 tonnes of CO2 emissions each year, equivalent to removing around 20,000 petrol cars from the roads, aligning with Kimberly-Clark’s goal to halve its absolute Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions from 2015 to 2030.
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