Cabot Corporation has acquired the Chiba solar farm (?????????) from Shoko Co., Ltd. The solar farm adjoins Cabot’s carbon black manufacturing facility in Chiba, Japan and will enable Cabot to export solar power as renewable energy to the electrical grid in the region. The Chiba solar farm generates up to 3,500 megawatt-hours (MWh) per year of electricity, which is equivalent to powering over 700 homes in Japan annually. The acquisition supports the company’s sustainability strategy as the solar farm is an investment in renewable energy.
While many companies are working hard simply to reduce the amount of electricity they import, one of Cabot’s 2025 global sustainability goals is to export twice the amount of energy that it imports. To help achieve this goal, Cabot recovers, uses and exports energy from its manufacturing processes to reduce its own emissions as well as reduce the net emissions of nearby businesses and communities and aid in the global transition to a lower carbon future. To further its efforts, Cabot looks to incorporate renewable energy sources into its network. With the acquisition of the Chiba solar farm, Cabot Japan has increased its energy ratio, or the amount of energy exported over imported, to 233% which represents a further step forward in achieving Cabot’s overall 2025 energy goal.
To work towards achieving this goal and continue to make improvements to the environment, Cabot has also invested in energy recovery systems across its network that reduce greenhouse gas emissions from its own production processes and aid in lowering the net emissions of neighboring businesses and communities. These investments include energy centers that produce power by converting recovered heat into useful energy, promoting circularity in its processes. By utilizing energy co-generation such as this, Cabot’s energy centers located in Japan can generate approximately 172,000 MWh per year of useful energy from energy recovery, which is equivalent to powering over 36,000 homes in Japan annually. The acquisition of the Chiba solar farm further showcases Cabot’s commitment to investing in renewable energy sources and achieving its sustainability goals.
“Over the years we have incorporated a number of initiatives to reduce our energy consumption and harness energy from our processes by installing energy centers to produce power without creating any additional emissions. As we pursue a net zero future we will need to continue to expand and diversify energy sources,” said Bart Kalkstein, executive vice president and president, Reinforcement Materials segment. “As an industry leader, we are making proactive investments in renewable energy sources, such as this solar farm, that can be exported to nearby businesses and communities. With this acquisition, we are supplying renewable energy in the local area as well as furthering our commitment to being a responsible neighbor to the Chiba Prefecture community.”
Cabot continues to demonstrate its ongoing commitment to protect the planet and further the company’s sustainability journey with an ambition to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 globally. The company has earned several accolades for its sustainability performance including a platinum rating from EcoVadis for the third consecutive year as well as being named to America’s Most Responsible Companies 2023 list by Newsweek for the fourth consecutive year and named to Investor’s Business Daily’s (IBD) 100 Best ESG Companies of 2022 list for the second consecutive year.
