Ibstock ditches fossil fuel electricity

Brick making is an inherently energy intensive business but switching to a renewable energy supplier puts Ibstock a little nearer its target of a 15% reduction in CO₂ per tonne of production by 2025.

Total Gas & Power, Ibstock’s energy supplier, says that its Pure Green energy tariff guarantees electricity only from solar, wind or hydro sources. The generation mix of Total’s Pure Green power is typically 75% wind, 24.7% solar and 0.3% hydro/wave power.

With the electricity matched to Renewable Energy Guarantee of Origin (REGO) certificates, this enables Ibstock to report zero emissions for electricity under the Greenhouse Gase Protocol Corporate Standards, Scope 2.

Ibstock’s operations started use of Pure Green electricity on January 1st 2021.

This switch to renewable electricity is one of several decarbonisation projects at Ibstock. Another is the completion of a solar park at its head office in Leicestershire that supplies a quarter of the power requirement on site.

Chief executive Joe Hudson said: “This is a very significant moment for our business. We take our goals and ambitions on sustainability extremely seriously and procuring all of our electrical power from renewable sources is further evidence of that.

“We are a market leader in an energy intensive sector, and we believe it is vital that we demonstrate that leadership in terms of reducing carbon emissions and supporting the market for renewable energy.  Many of our customers right across the construction sector have made commitments to achieving net zero emissions and our move to Pure Green shows them that we are with them on that journey.

“We have many more projects and initiatives planned and under way to further reduce our carbon impacts but, there is no doubt that this move to Pure Green really is a very big step forward in achieving our decarbonisation goals.

“As the first UK building products manufacturer to make a move to 100% renewable electricity, we believe we have set an example to others in our sector; we hope our peers are quick to follow suit.”

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