Reka Industrial Plc: Reka Cables to become the first carbon-neutral cable manufacturer on 1 November 2021

Reka Cables Ltd, a subsidiary of Reka Industrial Plc, has worked systematically to reach its environmental objectives and has been able to reduce its CO₂ emissions by 80% compared to 2019 levels. Reka Cables will compensate for the remaining emissions from 1 November 2021 on, achieving carbon neutrality in its own operations.

All three production facilities and the office premises of Reka Cables began using completely emission-free electricity in 2020. Cable production consumes a significant amount of electricity, which means that switching to green process electricity reduced the production’s carbon footprint considerably. In addition, solar power plants were installed at the Keuruu and Riihimäki production facilities. The solar plants generate approximately 130,000 kWh of energy per year.

“We are the first carbon-neutral cable manufacturer, at least in our main market areas,” says Jukka Poutanen, Managing Director.

In cooperation with AFRY Finland, Reka Cables has developed a calculator for calculating the carbon footprint of the company’s operations. According to the calculations, Reka Cables has been able to reduce the remaining emissions of its own operations to estimated 480 tonnes CO₂e in 2021 from 2630 tonnes CO₂e in 2019. Reka Cables will compensate for these remaining emissions with a high-quality, transparent and Gold Standard-certified project as well as two puro.earth-certified projects, achieving carbon neutrality* from 1 November 2021.

Compensation for the emissions will be achieved by investing in a solar power project in India, a project that focuses on carbon sequestration in buildings in Finland and a biochar project in Sweden. The compensation is carried out in cooperation with Nordic Offset, which operates in an international voluntary emissions trading network.

Emissions resulting from the company’s own operations include direct greenhouse gas emissions, such as the emissions generated in cable production, and the fuels used for processes and vehicles as well as the emissions of purchased energy (electricity and heating).

Reka Cables will continue its climate action efforts in order to significantly reduce the emissions of its own operations and improve energy efficiency. The company has also drawn up a plan to switch to electric vehicles.

*Scopes 1 and 2

More information on the compensation projects:

Gold Standard project: a solar power project in the Guttigoli village in Karnataka, India, GS ID 6760 https://registry.goldstandard.org/projects/details/1775

puro.earth project: permanent sequestration of carbon dioxide in Ekovilla
https://puro.earth/services/net-negative-insulation-material-finland-100009

puro.earth project: a biochar project, Hjelmsäters Egendom, Sweden
https://puro.earth/services/biochar-in-sweden-hjelmsaeters-egendom-100026