Parker Hannifin exceeds emissions reduction target

By targeting company-wide emissions as part of an overall strategic goal for carbon neutral operations, filtration giant Parker Hannifin has shown what can be achieved in just one year.

With an ambitious goal of reaching carbon neutral operations by 2040, last year Parker Hannifin established a year-on-year emissions reduction target of 3% from a 2019 benchmark. Parker Gas Turbine Filtration has slashed emissions by 13% in just the first year under its enhanced Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) plan.

As part of this overarching strategy, Parker Hannifin created performance metrics around each individual division, for the gas turbine business for example, empowering them to drive positive change in the transition to net zero carbon.

Exploring different projects to achieve this goal, one significant measure adopted in FY 2023 was to install a new roof at the Parker Hannifin manufacturing facility in Alton, UK. This resulted in a substantial reduction in gas and energy consumption. Furthermore, as part of this project a secondary layer was added to the existing roof, improving the building’s overall energy efficiency.

Energy efficiency is a central theme of the company’s annual ‘energy treasure hunt’. These three-day events are undertaken at each location and aim to identify operational energy efficiency improvements across the entire portfolio. Energy usage reductions implemented so far include voltage optimisation, finding and addressing compressed air system leaks, as well as changing all the lighting in Parker’s Alton and Slater facilities to LEDs using PIR detectors to reduce waste.

Some of the energy efficiency improvements also extend to the filter manufacturing process itself with tightly controlled temperatures for glue points and using automatic timers rather than working 24 hours a day as was the case previously. Lowering the set point on air compressors so that they work optimally has also resulted in savings. Furthermore, energy monitoring and data loggers across the distribution system allows Parker Hannifin to identify where further savings may be achieved in the future.

The results speak for themselves. The emissions baseline in 2019 was around 946,000 tonnes of CO2e equivalent across the Division. The policy was introduced at the start of the last financial year in July 2022 and for 2023, the first year of implementation of the strategy, that figure was already down to 823,000 tonnes CO2e, about a 13% reduction.

Timothy Ajayi, division engineering and quality manager for Parker Gas Turbine Filtration Group, commenting on the impressive headway toward the net zero goal, said: “We’re very proud of the progress we have made in improving energy efficiency and reducing emissions in just one year. We have a long way to go to reach net zero, but our results demonstrate what can be achieved with a concerted company-wide effort. We look forward to continuing our energy performance journey in years to come.”