SWEDEN (News release) -- Södra's nurseries have now transitioned to fossil-free operations. Heating, machinery and vehicles are all powered by renewable energy. "Persistent efforts and environmental investments of SEK 10 million have generated results," said Johan Jonsson, Head of Södra Skogsplantor.
After several years of hard work, the Flåboda nursery south of Växjö became totally fossil-free in 2015. Since then, efforts to transition to fossil-free operations have also been ongoing at the Falkenberg facility. In the final stage of the transition, the gas to the greenhouses was turned off last spring and when the heating system is restarted in the autumn it will be powered by new, environmentally friendly, wood pellet boilers. This means that all operations, not only in Falkenberg but in all of Södra's nurseries, are now fossil-free.
"Greenhouses, production premises and staff rooms are heated with either pellets from our own sawmills at Långasjö and Värö, or by geothermal systems. The electricity we use is green and generated by our pulp mills. In addition, all of our machinery and vehicles run on hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO*)," said Johan Jonsson.
Reduced CO₂ emissions is a key sustainability target for Södra and also means that production must be fossil-free by 2020.
"Due to several years of successful efficiency improvements, our fossil-free production target will soon be achieved by all of our production units. It is very gratifying that our nurseries have already reached this goal," said Henrik Brodin, project manager for 'A fossil-free Södra.'
*HVO is a synthetic diesel fuel produced by hydrogenating plant and animal fats, mainly sourced from abattoir trimmings and rapeseed oil.
