DUNGANNON meat producer Dunbia is the latest major company to commit to reducing its carbon footprint.
The food firm, which last year smashed through the one billion pound sales threshold for the first time, is now owned by the Waterford-based Dawn Meats Group.
Dunbia is one of the north’s largest private firms, employing around 4,000 people across nine sites in the UK and Ireland.
The entire Dawn Meats and Dunbia operation processes around 900,000 cattle and 2.6 million sheep each year.
Dunbia has said it has signed up to cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 30 per cent by 2030 through implementing measures at its own facilities and from the generation of the energy it purchases.
It follows a similar measure made by its parent group in May 2019.
The meat processor said the targets have been made under a science based targets initiative (SBTi), which ensures emissions reduction is verified and documented against a scientific baseline.
In May 2019, Dunbia’s parent owner became the first European beef and lamb processor to make the commitment.
The Dungannon company has already introduced a number of renewable energy measures, but said the work will accelerate in the years to 2030.
Dunbia chief executive Niall Browne said: “We have been working for more than 10 years to reduce emissions internally and more widely across our supply chain and we recognise the urgency to adopt even more aggressive measures to reduce emissions.
“We are working with stakeholders in collaborative projects to accelerate progress in this critical area. Achieving reductions of up to 30 per cent in our greenhouse gas emissions poses a considerable challenge, but it is vital that Dawn accelerates the rate of change in the environmental footprint of its business.”
