DALLAS, Sept. 14, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Kimberly-Clark Corporation today announced its first major commitment to renewable energy with agreements to annually purchase approximately 1,000,000 megawatt hours (245 megawatts - MW) of electricity from two new wind power projects in Texas and Oklahoma. The renewable energy supplied by the wind farms is equivalent to about one-third of the electricity needs of Kimberly-Clark's North American manufacturing operations and will enable the company to surpass its greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction goal four years earlier than anticipated.

Kimberly-Clark has entered long-term power purchase agreements to take 120 MW or 78 percent of electricity to be generated by the Rock Falls Wind project being developed by EDF Renewables in northern Oklahoma and 125 MW or 42 percent of the electricity to be generated by the Santa Rita Wind Energy Center being built by Invenergy in West Texas. The renewable energy supplied by the two wind farms will enable Kimberly-Clark to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by up to 550,000 metric tons annually. This is equivalent to removing 116,178 passenger vehicles from the road or not burning nearly 600 million pounds of coal annually.¹

"These agreements mark Kimberly-Clark's first use of utility-scale renewable energy and are a step-change in our energy and climate strategy to reduce climate change impacts, improve operating efficiency and benefit cost savings," said Lisa Morden, Global Head of Sustainability at Kimberly-Clark. "Adding wind-generated electricity to the energy mix will enable the company to achieve more than a 25 percent reduction in GHG emissions in 2018, which is four years ahead of the original 2022 target to reduce absolute greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent from 2005 levels."

"These two renewable energy projects, combined with a number of other energy initiatives across the company, put Kimberly-Clark on-track to deliver significant multimillion dollar cost savings from energy and climate projects by 2022," Morden said. "It's a powerful demonstration of sustainability initiatives having both great environmental and business benefits."

These two renewable energy projects build on extensive work undertaken by Kimberly-Clark to reduce its carbon footprint and create business value through greater energy efficiency, conservation and alternative energy programs including:

• Six large-scale electricity cogeneration facilities with waste heat recovery, including a seventh project recently announced and under construction at the company's Mobile, Alabama manufacturing facility (due to start-up in 2019).
• Four biomass thermal energy generating plants that provide steam for the company's tissue operations.
• More than 350 energy initiatives completed by the company across its operations since 2015.

The Rock Falls Wind project will become operational by the end of 2017, and the Santa Rita facility is expected to begin commercial operation by the second quarter of 2018. Renewable Choice Energy helped broker the two agreements.

To support the growth of renewable energy sources, Kimberly-Clark has signed on to the Corporate Renewable Energy Buyers' Principles, a collaboration of leading companies seeking simplified access to the renewable electricity to meet their clean and low carbon energy goals.

"We used the Renewable Energy Buyers' Principles when evaluating the business case for pursuing the offtake of utility-scale renewable energy with the EDF and Invenergy projects. Therefore, it was a natural but significant step for us to formally sign on and publicly endorse the Renewable Energy Buyers' Principles," said Stewart Van Horn, Director of Global Energy Solutions at Kimberly-Clark.

The Buyers' Principles tell utilities and other suppliers what industry-leading, multinational companies are looking for when buying renewable energy from the grid. The project is facilitated by World Resources Institute and World Wildlife Fund.

For more information on Kimberly-Clark's Sustainability 2022 strategy, including the energy and climate program, visit www.sustainability2022.com. 

¹ According to US EPA Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies calculations.

Notes to Editors

• Kimberly-Clark was recognized as a 2016 Climate Leader by the EPA for Excellence in Greenhouse Gas Management "Goal Achievement Award" and one of only 17 Climate Leadership Awards given nationwide for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
• In 2015, Kimberly-Clark set a 2022 target to reduce its absolute greenhouse gas emissions by 20% from 2005 levels.
• Kimberly-Clark developed and validated this goal using the Science Based Targets process utilizing the Sector Decarbonization Model to ensure the company contributed its share to global emissions reduction, and to encourage others within its supply chain and category to do so as well.
• This goal was reviewed and validated by World Wildlife Fund (WWF), World Resources Institute (WRI) and the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP).
• Kimberly-Clark is working to update its greenhouse gas emissions reduction target to continue to further reduce carbon emissions and plans to register this goal with ScienceBasedTargets.Org.

About Kimberly-Clark
Kimberly-Clark (NYSE: KMB) and its well-known global brands are an indispensable part of life for people in more than 175 countries. Every day, nearly a quarter of the world's population trust Kimberly-Clark's brands and the solutions they provide to enhance their health, hygiene, and well-being. With brands such as Kleenex, Scott, Huggies, Pull-Ups, Kotex and Depend, Kimberly-Clark holds No. 1 or No. 2 share positions in 80 countries. To keep up with the latest news and to learn more about the company's 145-year history of innovation, visit www.kimberly-clark.com or follow us on Facebook or Twitter.

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