AkzoNobel powering ahead with solar projects in China to accelerate sustainability ambitions

Two major projects to install around 8000 solar panels are being finalised by AkzoNobel in China, helping the company to accelerate its ambition of cutting carbon emissions in half by 2030.

Being installed at two Decorative Paints plants – more than 5000 at the Shanghai site and almost 3000 in Guangzhou – it represents further progress for the company’s greener manufacturing plans.

"Increasing the amount of renewable energy we use is a key part of our People. Planet. Paint. approach to doing business more sustainably,” explains Wijnand Bruinsma, AkzoNobel’s Program Manager for Sustainability. "The new installations will make an important contribution to our ongoing sustainability achievements in China and will help drive us towards our overall goal of moving to 100% renewable electricity by 2030.”

The new solar systems will become the primary source of power at each location. Now almost fully completed, they’ll generate around 1.66 million KWh in Shanghai and 1 million KWh in Guangzhou.

The Guangzhou site has now almost 3000 solar panels installed

"We’re excited to see these two projects successfully come to life,” continues Mark Kwok, Director of AkzoNobel’s Decorative Paints business in China/North Asia. "Sustainability is at the core of everything we do, whether that means improving the eco-footprint of our sites or addressing the environmental needs of our local customers and communities at large.”

Kwok adds that plans are also in place to install more solar panels at the company’s manufacturing sites in Changzhou, Langfang and Chengdu. "By installing additional panels at our sites in China, we’ll be able to reduce our energy consumption throughout the entire manufacturing process,” he says.

At the end of 2020, AkzoNobel’s total share of renewable electricity use was 40%, with 34 locations and 12 countries already using 100% renewable electricity.