Kimberly-Clark taps hydrogen to lower plant emissions

Hailed as an industry-first in the UK's FMCG sector, manufacturing firm Kimberly-Clark UK & Ireland has signed green hydrogen offtake agreements to decarbonise its two plants in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria and Northfleet, Kent in the UK.

The agreements have been signed with Carlton Power and HYRO (a joint venture between Octopus Energy Generation and RES), who are developing the Barrow and Northfleet hydrogen projects respectively.

The Barrow hydrogen project will supply 100GWh of hydrogen per annum while the Northfleet project will supply 47GWh.

Combined, the two sites produce nearly one billion Andrex toilet rolls and over 150 million boxes of Kleenex tissues every year. By replacing fossil-fuel natural gas used for steam generation with hydrogen at the plants, Kimberly-Clark expects to reduce carbon emissions by 28,500 tonnes per annum.

Have you read?
CPS Energy pilots turning natural gas into clean hydrogen
Hydrogen essential for UK’s hard-to-abate industries states report

According to Dan Howell, vice president and managing director at Kimberly-Clark UK & Ireland, this investment aligns with the company's ambition to move their UK manufacturing operations to 100% renewable energy by 2030 and builds on previous investments to decarbonise.

“Now is the right time for us to tap into hydrogen’s significant potential, improving energy supply and our decarbonisation needs. We are delighted to be the first UK consumer goods manufacturer to really embrace green hydrogen, showing that an energy intensive industry can take the lead and overcome the technical challenge and adopt green hydrogen at scale. This initiative builds on the investments and progress we’ve already made with innovative technologies for our business, our consumers and our customers.”

Alex Brierley, co-head of Octopus Energy Generation’s fund management team, said: “This is an exciting milestone for HYRO and for green hydrogen in the UK’s industrial sector...Green hydrogen will play a significant role in decarbonising hard-to-electrify industries – and Kimberly-Clark has been a pioneer in this space. This scheme will help produce household products using renewables and flush away fossil fuels for good.”

The announcement is an encouraging development for the UK's hydrogen sector, signalling a growing demand for hydrogen to decarbonise hard to abate sectors.

Keith Clarke, founder and chief executive of Carlton Power, added: “Our Barrow Green Hydrogen facility will be the first in a series of projects that we will bring into commercial operation over the next 2-4 years to support UK industry make the transition to using green hydrogen and away from fossil fuels.”

Carlton Power’s Barrow Green Hydrogen project secured local planning consent in June 2023. HYRO’s project at the Northfleet paper mill received planning permission in August 2024.

The combined plant investments and offtake agreements represent over £125 million ($169.3 million), according to Kimberly-Clark UK & Ireland.

Both projects have secured funding from the UK government through the first hydrogen subsidy scheme – Hydrogen Allocation Round One (HAR1).