Craft an In-Plant Decarbonization Plan That Works For You

Start Small, Keep Going: Use site-level actions to achieve corporate climate targets 

Organizations across the country are looking at the corporate climate commitments they made in the last decade and struggling to translate them into site-level actions and measurable results.  

If that sounds like you, you’re not alone. It is a daunting task.  

It can be hard to see the line from dozens of plants spread out across the country – each with their own operational procedures and revenue targets – somehow rolling up to a Net Zero by 2050 scenario. The good news is, what works at one site will likely work across your portfolio, at least in terms of the overall strategies you employ.  

There is a path through the forest. By prioritizing projects with the strongest ROI, tying site-level decarbonization efforts to corporate targets, and effectively tracking your data so you can prove progress, you’ll build an organization that can not only stand confidently behind your sustainability targets but that has built in resilience for whatever the market might bring. 

The Case for In-Plant Decarbonization 

Scope 1 and Scope 2 are the emissions that happen under your watch in your facilities. Scope 1 are direct emissions from sources owned or controlled by your company, such as on-site operational processes, refrigerants, and company vehicles. Scope 2 emissions are indirect emissions from purchased energy—including electricity and natural gas—often used for heating, cooling, and other operational needs.  

When looking at how to connect site-level decarbonization goals to your overall climate targets, aggressive and persistent reduction of these emissions should be a central piece.  

The Cascade Energy Decarbonization Roadmap 

In our mission to help industry decarbonize, we have determined six guiding principles that can be replicated across your portfolio. 

1. Relentlessly cut energy waste: By cutting energy waste, you immediately reduce emissions and put money back in your pocket. With systematic persistence and building a culture of continual improvement, you can make efficiency last longer. Every 10-horsepower motor you turn off is 2,000 square feet of solar panels you don’t need to buy! 
2. Timely electrification: Seize the moment of end-of-life replacements of capital equipment. Look into cutting energy waste across thermal systems and get ready to electrify when the time is right. Research technologies, find vendors, develop expertise, and make a plan.
3. Buy just enough clean energy: Clean electricity generation is critical to eliminating in-plant emissions, but it can be costly. By implementing energy efficient practices, you can reduce the power you need to supplement with clean energy purchases.
4. Commit to goals, consistently: Get everyone from the boardroom to the boiler room aligned and working together. Use KPIs like reduced operational expenses from energy efficiency efforts to make the case to plant managers and connect those efforts to corporate sustainability targets for the CSO. 
5. Set people up for success: Allocate staffing and train energy teams across the organization, then assign achievable targets and hold people accountable for the results. It’s important to communicate and engage all levels of staff and keep them engaged and invested in the changes you will need to make.  
6. Dedicate funding, invest wisely: Set expectations that decarbonization projects will be completed across the company and dedicate funds to do so effectively. There are incentives available through utility programs across the country to help ease the cost of decarbonization. These incentives can help you cover the cost of identifying projects, training, equipment, and other rebates. We can help connect you with these opportunities.

Success Story 

Sysco is the world’s largest broadline food distributor, operating more than 100 facilities across North America. We worked with Sysco for about 15 years, from 2006 to 2021, starting with a single project at single distribution center that turned into an enterprise-level corporate energy management program. 

Thanks to their commitment to energy management, Sysco was able to reduce its annual average energy intensity by approximately 50% from 2006 to 2020, avoiding $316.5 million in energy costs over a 13-year period. At the end of their fiscal year (FY) 2020, 139 facilities were enrolled in the energy management program. That year, they identified nearly 290 emissions-reduction improvements at 19 facilities. 

Sysco’s program included training, retro-commissioning, and capital project support for each location, as well as using technology-enabled data analytics to track and report on energy-saving progress in real-time. Sysco used Cascade’s Gazebo™ software to measure energy performance accurately and reliably across 142 distribution centers, driving accountability, culture change, and persistent savings. 

At the end of FY 2021, Sysco had completed 53 on-site facility commissioning events to identify savings and training opportunities. One of these facilities had been trending toward a 5% increase in energy consumption, and after the event it achieved energy savings in excess of 10%. The program also included Sysco-specific certification exams for facility personnel that focused on refrigeration and warehouse efficiency best practices, ensuring all staff are equipped to participate in Sysco achieving its goals. 

Start Small, Keep Going  

Just like when you were learning to read and teachers recommended breaking the word down into chunks rather than biting off the whole supercalifragilisticexpialidocious mouthful at once, connecting site-level actions to corporate climate targets requires starting small. Pick pilot sites or a small, tangible project, show staff how it aligns with broader business goals, and celebrate early wins to build credibility and buy-in. From there, you can take the strategies that worked and the momentum you’ve built to start expanding efforts to more sites in your portfolio.  

Crafting a decarbonization plan supported by structure, guided by insight, and fueled by tenacity will empower your company to hit your climate targets and future-proof your operations.

Cascade’s insightful tools and coaches are ready to guide your path to energy efficiency and decarbonization – reach out to learn how our unique approach can support your net-zero goals.