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ABF Sugar aims to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions across its entire value chain by 2050.
British Sugar engineers with the boilers for the animal feed dryers at our factory in Wissington, UK.
Climate change is affecting ABF Sugar, with changing weather patterns, extreme events and an increasing lack of water security. To address these challenges, the division is seeking solutions to reduce its carbon footprint, understand its GHG emissions across Scope 1, 2 and 3, and drive innovation in agriculture, transportation and its manufacturing sites.
ABF Sugar aims to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions across its entire value chain by 2050. To reach this goal, it has set ambitious targets to reduce Scope 1, 2 and 3 and FLAG (Forest, Land and Agriculture) GHG emissions by 2030. These targets, including its net zero commitment, have been validated by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi).
Each ABF Sugar business has developed a carbon reduction plan as part of its five-year strategy. Progress is monitored through the ABF Sugar decarbonisation dashboard, which consolidates all the plans and aligns them with the science-based targets that have been set. The dashboard enables teams to focus on priority areas, monitor progress and make informed decisions on resource allocation and capital investment in each business.
ABF Sugar consumed 15,340GWh of energy in 2025, a 13% reduction compared to 2024, largely due to lower production volumes in some businesses and increased efficiencies across its factories. Of this total energy, 60% came from renewable sources, primarily from bagasse, the plant-based fibre that remains after the juice is extracted from crushed sugar cane stalks.
ABF Sugar remains focused on reducing Scope 1 and 2 market-based GHG emissions, achieving a 23% decrease against its 2018 baseline. British Sugar, the largest contributor to ABF Sugar’s Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions, has reduced its Scope 1 and 2 market-based GHG emissions by 31% from the 2018 baseline year.
In 2025, ABF Sugar’s Scope 1 and 2 market-based GHG emissions decreased by 9% compared to the previous year. Overall efficiency management and innovation across its businesses have contributed to the reduction.
ABF Sugar is continuing to work on projects to support the transition to a low-carbon economy, focusing on energy efficiency, switching to renewable energy and implementing process improvements. Initiatives that have already been implemented include mechanical cane harvesting, heat recovery, steam reduction and renewable energy power purchase agreements. Further action will focus on efficient drying processes, fuel switches and implementation of new farming systems. Beyond 2030, ABF Sugar plans to explore hydrogen use and further develop biomethane production, electrification and anaerobic digestion technologies.
| 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scope 1 | 1581 | 1683 | 1550 | 1669 | 1538 |
| Scope 2 (market-based) | 111 | 120 | 199 | 219 | 186 |
| 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sugar | 17173 | 16587 | 17224 | 17534 | 15340 |
| Percentage renewable energy | 68% | 65% | 67% | 63% | 60% |
Combined heat and power (CHP) plants are used across many of ABF Sugar’s sites to provide the necessary steam and electricity required throughout the sugar-making process. By efficiently generating its own heat and electrical energy, the business is reducing its GHG emissions and impact on the environment. The surplus electricity produced is fed back to the national grids in the UK, Spain and Eswatini.
British Sugar (UK), Azucarera (Spain), and Illovo South Africa are businesses critical to delivery of ABF Sugar’s carbon reduction targets. A crucial component of ABF Sugar’s decarbonisation strategy is supporting these businesses in transitioning from fossil fuels to lower-carbon alternatives. ABF Sugar’s other African operations primarily use bagasse as their main energy source.
British Sugar has reduced its Scope 1 emissions by 30% from the 2018 baseline. This reduction has been achieved through a series of targeted initiatives. At its Wissington site, the energy reduction scheme commissioned for the 2024 sugar beet campaign reduced steam demand by 25% in its first year. The business has also eliminated coal as a fuel source and installed a new CHP plant at Cantley. At Bury St Edmunds, an energy reduction project aims to cut CO2e emissions by 20,000 tonnes a year. In addition, ongoing investments in pulp pressing improvement processes are being implemented across multiple sites.
At Azucarera's Jerez site in Spain, the installation of two second-hand pre-scalders and the implementation of a refurbished evaporator in 2024 have resulted in a reduction in the factory's energy consumption. The new evaporation configuration is designed to positively impact the heating steam system for several heat exchangers. This setup enables a 5% reduction in steam demand, leading to lower natural gas consumption and CO₂ emissions, as well as reduced pulp losses.
Illovo South Africa has implemented a series of projects to decrease its carbon emissions, focused primarily on improving plant reliability and efficiency, and as a result reducing the instances of interrupting operations, which negatively impacts its performance. The Sezela and Noodsberg factories have reduced coal use in boilers by optimising the use of bagasse, steam usage and operational efficiencies. Projects at the Noodsberg Mill and Eston Mill have driven approximately 30kt of carbon savings. Its five-year plan includes a coal-reduction roadmap to further reduce coal usage, with projects focusing on the modification of boilers, new technologies deployed and further efficiencies on steam usage.
As part of its science-based targets, ABF Sugar has developed targets covering Scope 1 and Scope 3 emissions from forest, land and agriculture activities. It is also developing plans at business unit level and gaining a deeper understanding of the emissions factors linked to its agriculture activities.
As the sugar industry faces the effects of climate change, ABF Sugar is focusing on building resilience at its own estates and with its farming partners. The aim is to maintain yields and improve them in the medium term where possible.
ABF Sugar has identified synthetic nitrogen fertilizer and field movements as the two highest sources of emissions within its agricultural operations and supply chain. Given that maximising yield is central to ABF Sugar’s agricultural strategy, reducing GHG emissions from these areas is a priority to support its ambition to maintain and improve yields. For instance, minimising field movements preserves soil structure, enhances water retention, improves air circulation and boosts organic matter, all of which contribute to better yields. Proper application of synthetic nitrogen at optimal times in the growing cycle is essential for maintaining or increasing yields.
In addition to fertiliser management and field movements, other factors affecting yield include moisture management (irrigation scheduling), timing of operations, planting at the right time, crop management and integrated pest management. Efficient use of land through best practices that maximise yields is vital for maintaining the current land footprint while expanding high-yielding crops using more sustainable and regenerative agricultural principles.
* Numbers prior to 2025 have been restated to reflect the disposal of AB Sugar China, disposed of in 2024. The adjustment ensures comparability and accuracy in reporting the groups continuing operations
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ABF Sugar commits to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) across the value chain by 2050.
•ABF Sugar commits to a 52% reduction in absolute Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions by 2030 from a 2018 base year*.
•ABF Sugar also commits to a 30% reduction in absolute Scope 3 GHG emissions from purchased goods and services, capital goods, fuel-and energy-related activities, upstream transportation and distribution, waste generated in operations, business travel, employee commuting and downstream transportation and distribution within the same timeframe.
*The target boundary includes biogenic land-related emissions and removals from bioenergy feedstocks.
•ABF Sugar commits to reduce absolute Scope 1, 2 and 3 FLAG GHG emissions by 36.4% by 2030 from a 2018 base year*.
•ABF Sugar also commits to maintain no deforestation across its primary deforestation-linked commodities.
*The target includes FLAG emissions and removals.
•ABF Sugar commits to reduce absolute Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions by 90% by 2050 from a 2018 base year*.
•ABF Sugar also commits to reduce absolute Scope 3 GHG emissions by 90% from purchased goods and services, capital goods, fuel-and energy-related activities, upstream transportation and distribution, waste generated in operations, business travel, employee commuting and downstream transportation and distribution within the same timeframe.
*The target boundary includes biogenic land-related emissions and removals from bioenergy feedstocks.
•ABF Sugar commits to reduce absolute Scope 1 and 2 FLAG GHG emissions by 90% by 2050 from a 2018 base year*.
•ABF Sugar also commits to reduce absolute Scope 3 FLAG GHG emissions by 72% by 2050 from a 2018 base year*.
*The target includes FLAG emissions and removals.
One of our Azucarera employees demonstrating the Visor crop monitoring platform to a sugar beet farmer on his farm, Spain
ABF Sugar has SBTi-validated targets, designed to articulate its intended progress towards reducing its Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions. These targets, in combination with the other elements of this transition plan, create a roadmap for managing the business going forward.
The ABF Sugar Chief Executive and business unit managing directors continue to be responsible and accountable for overseeing climate-related risks, opportunities, overall strategy and transition plans. Please refer to its website for a more detailed understanding of its governance process.
The ABF Sugar Results Delivery Office (RDO) continues to measure carbon savings and categorise projects related to all ESG areas to ensure plans will be delivered and savings captured. All ABF Sugar businesses have access to a central system that provides up-to-date carbon information to track targets and define savings which is used to manage projects.
In 2025, ABF Sugar has established an ESG Committee to monitor business performance on all ESG matters including climate change and SBTi targets.
The ABF Sugar risk management process has remained consistent with prior year. Each business within ABF Sugar develops action plans to respond to the climate-related risks and opportunities that apply to them. All plans and projects have passed through a well-established governance process that examines each performance improvement proposal against internal rate of return criteria and ESG and climate factors. These plans are then approved by the ABF Sugar Chief Executive and business unit managing directors.
In working towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) for Scope 1 and 2, ABF Sugar has categorised its proposed plans and projects into three focuses.
Immediate term: Focusing on reducing operational GHG emissions, investing in energy efficiency with the aim of reducing energy consumption and eliminating coal.
Short term (to 2030): Targeting key sites and pairing them with key technological resources.
Long term (to 2050): Focusing on employing low emission technologies, managing climate-related risks across the value chain, and partnering to innovate at factories across the business.
ABF Sugar does not intend to utilise carbon offsets in its decarbonisation strategy.
In planning the above roadmap ABF Sugar has made various assumptions. These include its ability to estimate the predicted impact of each project, a constant supply of machinery and associated expertise to complete projects. Additionally, in implementing this roadmap ABF Sugar anticipates that government regulation, timeframes to deliver and ongoing communication with local communities will continue to be a challenge.
As a group, ABF Sugar has seen movement in its Scope 1 and 2 (location-based) emissions from its 2018 baseline year. For each business
ABF Sugar has a continued focus on Scope 1 and 2 as this is the most material risk to the business and is an area of significant spend. In 2025 ABF Sugar spent approximately £285m on approved projects. To date 20 of these projects have contributed a saving of 83.5 ktCO2e. For its decarbonisation plan, ABF Sugar is planning to spend 66.5% of its planned capital expenditure to support its climate change strategy and ESG initiatives.
The reductions have been achieved by a focus on three areas – efficiency, fuel switch and investment in new technology. Each business has a decarbonisation plan focused on their area of risk and opportunity, British Sugar is focused on Scope 1 factory emissions reduction with projects, efficiency programmes and clear KPIs. The reductions are achieved by capital investments but also understanding and running its factories more efficiently.
Our sugar businesses in Africa main focus to reduce GHG emissions is coal usage. They have continued to reduce coal usage in Sezela, Noodsberg and Eston through efficient use of bagasse.
Entity |
|
British Sugar – Bury |
Project |
|
Decarbonisation steam reduction (Phase 1) – Efficiency programme |
Description |
|
This project is in the process of replacing four existing Roberts type evaporators with three new falling-film type evaporators. This is realising a significant reduction in LP liquid propene gas burn for sugar manufacturing (approx. 25%) as well as increasing engineering reliability of the station. The second main element of the project is the upgrade to the Raw Juice Heating Station. This project has replaced the station as a whole, eliminating the planned essential replacement plan spend, and will allow the factory to realise the full gas burn reduction of the three new evaporators as well as improving engineering and process reliability of the site. |
Year of approval |
|
2024 |
| Expected tCO2e saving (annual) |
|
19,500 |
Target project close-out date |
|
1 December 2026 |
Entity |
|
British Sugar – Cantley – Efficiency programme |
Project |
|
Provision of modular steam and power – Efficiency programme |
Description |
|
This project has re-established a steam generation capacity of up to 60 t/hr at the Cantley factory to meet a range of business requirements within upcoming medium combustion plant directive emission limits. The low-pressure ‘modular technology’ utilised is in the process of delivering process/maintenance simplification, improving process safety, as well as enabling operational effectiveness through ‘Industry 4.0’ methodology. |
Year of approval |
|
2024 |
| Expected tCO2e saving (annual) |
|
16,000 |
| Project close-out date |
|
1 September 2025 |
Entity |
|
Azucarera – Miranda |
Project |
|
Energetic improvements APRO (Phase 1) – Efficiency programme |
Description |
|
The objective of the project is to modify the heating of raw juice, improving the use of pan vapours and reducing the consumption of steam in the heating of the purification stage. |
Year of approval |
|
2024 |
| Expected tCO2e saving (annual) |
|
1,000 |
Target project close-out date |
|
1 December 2025 |
Entity |
|
Illovo Sugar – Malawi, Nchalo |
Project |
|
Irrigation and Drainage Upgrade – Shire Valley Transformation Project – Irrigation and drainage modernisation |
Description |
|
The project entails reversing the existing on-farm pumping infrastructure of Nchalo Estate (from east to west) to a gravity pressurised pipeline distributed system from the Shire Valley Irrigation Project (‘SVIP’) high-level canal. The SVIP potentially represents a significant opportunity to reduce production cost for Nchalo by reversing the existing irrigation infrastructure from an electricity intensive lift pumping system to a gravity water feed system with energy savings of up to 91% of the current energy consumption and approximately 17.5% saving in irrigation bulk water consumption due to the change from an open channel canal to an embedded pipeline. |
Year of approval |
|
2025 |
| Expected tCO2e saving (annual) |
|
23,140 |
Target project close-out date |
|
Delivered in phases through 2028 and 2029 |
Entity |
|
Illovo Sugar – Nakambala |
Project |
|
Farming system – yield |
Description |
|
The Nakambala sugar cane estate in Zambia has implemented a new farming system to improve resource stewardship, yields and agricultural profitability. Following early analysis of the data gathered, results show that the system has led to significant improvements in yield, with an increase of 20 tonnes per hectare compared to the previous growing cycle |
Year of approval |
|
2025 |
| Expected tCO2e saving (annual) |
|
2,000 |
Target project close-out date |
|
System implementation delivered in phases over the near term. |
Looking ahead and per above figure ABF Sugar roadmap 1, there is a strong pipeline of accretive GHG reduction projects. Each business has its own environmental plan which has been categorised between short and long term.
British Sugar's factory at Wissington, UK
British Sugar has established a decarbonisation strategy to significantly reduce its Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2030. The business has implemented a range of projects focusing on energy efficiency, steam reduction, renewable resources and fuel switching.
From its 2018 baseline year through to 2025, British Sugar has invested approximately £134m in various initiatives, resulting in a cumulative reduction of above 160kt of CO2e.
At Bury St Edmunds, the energy reduction project was successfully delivered with commissioning that took place in September 2025. This project mirrored the success of similar initiatives implemented at Wissington and is expected to reduce the site carbon emissions by approximately 20,000 tonnes of CO2e per year at the Bury site.
At Cantley, the installation of a new modular gas-fired Combined Heat and Power (CHP) plant was fully commissioned in September 2025, which has enabled the decommissioning of the previous coal boiler. This project is set to reduce the site carbon emissions by around 16,000 tonnes of CO2e annually.
At Newark, fuel switching projects have transitioned dryers to operate on natural gas, displacing higher carbon-emitting fuels, and there has been an investment of £2.5 million into a new white sugar pan seeding system. This is expected to improve the reliability and energy performance of the refinery process.
At the Wissington site, a substantial 50,000 tonnes of Scope 1 emissions are set to be reduced as a result of a £42 million investment in a new steam drying project. This will enable the existing animal feed gas dryers to be replaced by a steam drying plant, taking steam directly from the CHP plant on site and using it to dry the pulp. Construction has started in order for the project to be ready for commissioning in Autumn 2026.
Looking ahead, British Sugar plans to continue its decarbonisation strategy through projects which include a new diffusion heating configuration and evaporator station optimisation at Newark, an animal feed steam drying plant at Wissington and resin separation plant improvements.
British Sugar engineers with a new evaporator that is helping to reduce GHG emissions at our factory in Wissington, UK
