Bayer de Mexico, part of the global pharmaceutical and life sciences company, signed a 15-year power purchase agreement (PPA) this week for electricity from a wind farm under development in Santiago.
The PPA with Spanish electric utility Iberdrola’s wind facility is expected to provide renewable energy to Bayer de Mexico’s four plants – in Mexico City, the State of Mexico, Tlaxcala, and Veracruz – as well as 23 operation centers that are primarily located in Sinaloa, Guanajuato, Jalisco and Chiapas, the company said.
“According to Iberdrola Mexico, the 105-MW wind farm will feature 50 turbines spread across the San Felipe municipality,” Renewables Now reported. “It will be the seventh wind project that the Spanish utility’s branch built in Mexico.”
This newly inked deal allows Bayer de Mexico to reduce its carbon footprint, part of Bayer’s broader goal of becoming climate-neutral by 2030, the company said. On Monday, Bayer announced that the Science Based Targets initiative had approved the company’s climate protection targets, confirming that they are in line with limiting global warming to 1.5°C. Their corporate goal: reducing emissions by 42% by 2029.
Based on their science-based targets, Bayer is working to reduce direct emissions from their own power plants, vehicles, and production facilities – and indirect emissions from their electricity, steam, and cooling power purchases. Achieving these Scope 1 and 2 emissions goals means reducing absolute CO2 emissions over the next decade by at least 42% against a 2019 baseline, the equivalent of 1.558 million metric tons, according to the company.
Bayer plans to reach these targets by sourcing 100 percent of their energy from renewable sources. The company called long-term power purchase agreements “the most important tool” in transitioning to renewable energy.
“In addition to switching to green electricity and reducing emissions, the company will need to ensure that new growth is generated without CO2 emissions so that an absolute reduction of 42% can be achieved,” Bayer added.
