Cover photo: The Wonderful Company
The Wonderful Company will continue its commitment to renewable energy with plans to use 100 percent renewable electricity across all its U.S. operations by 2025. As part of this commitment, The Wonderful Company is joining RE100, a collaborative, global initiative led by The Climate Group in partnership with CDP, uniting more than 160 influential businesses committed to transitioning to 100 percent renewable electricity.
The privately-held $4 billion company sells pistachios, almonds, citrus, pomegranates, bottled water, wines and flowers.
"As a responsible steward of the environment, we've invested more than $300 million in sustainability research and innovations, clean energy and prudent use of natural resources," said Stewart Resnick, chairman and president, The Wonderful Company. "This is the natural progression of our sustainability efforts and the right thing for us to do as leaders in the agriculture industry.”
The Wonderful Company first invested in renewable electricity in 2007 with a ground-mounted solar installation. The project generated nearly 15 percent of the required energy at its pistachios & almonds processing facility. In 2013, the company quadrupled its investment in renewable energy, installing rooftop solar panels at its JUSTIN Wines, Wonderful Pistachios & Almonds, and Halos facilities. The Halos project became the largest privately owned single-site solar rooftop in the U.S.
In January 2019, The Wonderful Company signed its first large-scale power purchase agreement with NextEra Energy to build a 23-megawatt solar project on 157 acres of fallow farmland at company facilities in California's Central Valley. Once completed, the project will generate enough clean electricity each year to grow nearly half of the company's pistachio, almond, and pomegranate crops and bring the company's global renewable electricity use to approximately 25 percent. The firm plans to source the remaining 75 percent of its electricity from renewable energy projects sited primarily on company land in the Central Valley. Combined with additional off-site renewable energy projects that will maximize emissions savings, and continued investments in energy efficiency, The Wonderful Company plans to reach 100 percent renewable electricity in the U.S. by 2025, and globally by 2040, the firm said in a release.
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