For the fourth year in a row, and fifth time overall, Koch Industries ("Koch") was recognized as an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 2024 ENERGY STAR® Partner of the Year for Energy Management, as well as its third consecutive year in the Sustained Excellence category. The award demonstrates Koch employees' commitment to stewardship.
In earning the recognition, Koch companies had five facilities identified as Certified Plants, two tapped as completing Top Projects, and one achieved Challenge for Industry status.
"All of us here at Koch are proud to again be named an EPA ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year," said Sheryl Corrigan, Vice President - Environmental, Health and Safety at Koch Industries. "This award is a testament to all the great work that is happening every day across Koch companies. Our employees continue to demonstrate that a focus on energy management leads to meaningful improvements—from small to large-scale—that contribute to sustained results for us, for our partners and for the environment."
The award recognizes corporate energy management programs that perform at a superior level, demonstrate best practices across the organization and demonstrate companywide energy savings. In addition, Koch's status in the Sustained Excellence category, the highest honor bestowed by the EPA, requires the company to continue to surpass achievements made in previous years.
In its 2024 application, Koch touted several facilities and projects where employee- enabled results earned specific EPA certifications and recognitions including:
Certified Plants
In the U.S., EPA uses a benchmarking tool called Energy Performance Indicators (EPI) to measure a plant's energy performance and compare it to that of similar plants nationwide, generating an ENERGY STAR score on a scale of 1 to 100. Manufacturing plants must achieve an ENERGY STAR score of 75 or higher to earn Certified Plant status.
- Pine Bend in Rosemount, Minnesota (Flint Hills Resources)
- Brewton in Brewton, Alabama (Georgia-Pacific)
- Leaf River in New Augusta, Mississippi (Georgia-Pacific)
- Beatrice in Beatrice, Nebraska (Koch Ag & Energy Solutions)
- Enid in Enid, Oklahoma (Koch Ag & Energy Solutions)
Top Projects
These projects have been recognized by fellow EPA Partners as reducing energy intensity in business operations.
- Enid (Koch Ag & Energy Solutions): An upgrade to Koch Fertilizer's Enid facility steam traps, which are crucial for reducing the amount of natural gas and water needed in facility processes, saved the site more than $350,000 a year and reduced CO2 emissions by more than 7,000 tons.
- Naheola (Georgia-Pacific): As part of ongoing efforts to improve energy efficiency and reduce corrosion in Koch manufacturing assets, Georgia-Pacific's Naheola paper mill in Pennington, Alabama, deployed HPC ceramic insulation spray on its digester and reduced heat loss by 49% and saved the facility an estimated $332,000 in energy costs annually.
Challenge for Industry
The ENERGY STAR Challenge for Industry is a call to action for industrial sites to reduce their energy intensity by 10% within five years.
- Crossett Mill in Crossett, Arkansas (Georgia-Pacific)
In the U.S., since 2014, the company has reduced Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions by 17% (more than 4.5 million metric tons of CO2e), cut production-related waste generated at our U.S. facilities by 40% and invested $2.2B in energy efficiency projects at those facilities.
Koch's perspective on environmental stewardship and energy use is guided by its Vision to provide products customers prefer more than their alternatives while using fewer resources and the Koch Stewardship Framework, which encompasses the responsible management of company actions and the resources entrusted to it in a manner that respects the rights of others.
