Our Sustainability Ethos

WoolWorks’ recognises the importance of having sustainability as a core value upon which we base our operations. The living environment and natural resources which surround us should be respected and nurtured so that they can be enjoyed by future generations. That is why we are striving to bring one of New Zealand’s most prestigious and natural exports, wool, to the world stage with net-zero carbon. We have already made headways in this regard but understand it is an on-going commitment.

Energy efficiency and process optimisation is fundamental to WoolWorks’ operations.

The business is constantly assessing ways to increase quality, decrease energy use and reduce waste.

Process heat and electricity audits were conducted at the WoolWorks’ processing sites to identify opportunities for energy saving projects.

• Employment of Tony Mei, our outstanding Process Energy Graduate (now Process Engineeer)
• Ongoing process improvements
• Reduction of heat loss from processing equipment
• Replacing aging equipment with energy efficient technology.
• Recovery of heat from waste streams.
• Maximising utilisation.
• Increased submetering on major utility and product lines.

In 2022, WoolWorks was approved by the Science-Based Targets initiative to register our commitment to reducing carbon emissions from their operations. WoolWorks has goals of reducing our Scope 1 and 2 emissions by at least 46% compared to their 2019 baseline (approximately 28,000 tonnes CO2-e) by 2030.

We have also registered an aim to reduce our 2019 baseline emissions by 90%, in line with the Science-Based Targets initiative ‘Net-Zero Standard’. This would involve not only reducing gross Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 90% but also offsetting the residual emissions.

This goal is ambitious but achievable based on the work already completed by WoolWorks. There are several potential projects in the pipeline which would assist with achieving these emissions
reduction goals.

Figure 1- SBT pathway that will enable WoolWorks to achieve our Scope 1 and 2 emissions reduction targets.

Our flagship projects are our two government co-funded decarbonisation projects. These involve large capital investment, engineering expertise and early adoption of green technology in NZ to bring about massive emissions reductions.

Energy Monitoring

WoolWorks has the means to monitor all aspects of energy utilisation on site.

Performance data is evaluated on a daily basis in and discussed during weekly meetings.  Monthly reporting is produced with utilisation dashboards for each site.

Extensive utilities metering allows WoolWorks to understand :

• Steam
• Water
• Natural gas
• Water and Wastewater
• Chemicals
• Electricity
• Daily carbon output

Our journey so far:

WoolWorks are awarded funding from the GIDI fund, April 2021

WoolWorks’ formal sustainability journey began in April 2021, where WoolWorks were pleased to host Minister Hon Megan Woods, and Minister Hon James Shaw at our Timaru site to announce that we had been awarded funding from the Government Initiative to Decarbonise Industry (GIDI) fund to begin a project to remove our coal-fired boiler with an Electric boiler.

Prior to that, for many years, WoolWorks have utilised energy efficient methods, such as closed loop circular processing, heat recovery, and other methods in our processing to gain efficiencies and enable support of the natural environment.

Partners who made this possible:

WoolWorks would like to thank partners who made the decarbonisation of WoolWorks’ Timaru site possible.  We would not have been able to achieve this project without:

• Lumen
• PEI Group
• EECA (Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority)
• Alpine Energy
• Meridian Energy
• The GIDI Fund (Government Initiative to Decarbonise Industry)

Links to news articles for the decarbonisation journey:

June 2023

The commissioning of the E-boiler in Timaru was the first step in an exciting journey to improve our processes and ensure that we do our part to reduce carbon emissions.

From: Alpine Energy enables electrification and decarbonisation at WoolWorks (poweringup.org.nz)