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Thu July 06, 2023 - National Edition #15
June 26th is a historic date for Komatsu Forest since this is when the company's production at Klockarbäcken in Umeå became completely carbon neutral.
Komatsu Group has a vision of being carbon neutral by 2050. This applies to both the production and use of Komatsu machines.
This vision also was evident when designing Komatsu Forest's new production facility. The company moved into its new facilities in 2021 and ever since then the business has been close to achieving the target to become carbon neutral.
Due to the dismantling of operations in the old premises, securing that all energy bought is climate neutral, and the fact that the wheel loaders used in the company's production are no longer fueled with diesel, the company has now achieved the coveted goal of a carbon-neutral production.
From June 26, all vehicles in production, including the forest machines that the company manufactures, will be fueled with HVO100, i.e. biodiesel made from renewable raw materials in the form of waste and residual products.
The introduction of HVO100 is an initiative that the Komatsu Group is implementing at all its factories in Europe during spring and early summer 2023.
"We are extremely proud that we are now achieving carbon-neutral production of our forest machines. The final and important piece of the puzzle is the introduction of HVO100. But that in no way means that we are finished," said Jens Bengtsson, CEO of Komatsu Forest.
In the company's quest to achieve a carbon-neutral footprint, it is now continuing to work on the development of the sustainable forest machines of the future. It is a long-term work that will take place step by step.
"It is a combination of new innovations and good collaborations with partners and suppliers that will lead us to the goal. There is a lot to do, electrification of our machines is already on the agenda and we are also following the development of fossil-free steel with great interest. For us, it is important that our business contributes to society and our way of doing that is to take the sustainability issue very seriously and work purposefully and persistently — together," Jens said.
For more information, visit www.komatsuforest.com.
This story also appears on Forestry Equipment Guide.