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Kraft Heinz has been selected for award negotiations to receive up to $170 million from the US Department of Energy’s Office of Clean Energy Demonstration. The investment will be used to support the implementation of clean energy projects at ten of the company’s US plants, with the aim of reducing carbon emissions by over 99%. The investment from the US Department of Energy, titled ‘Delicious Decarbonization Through Integrated Electrification and Energy Storage,’ will be implemented at the following Kraft Heinz locations:  Champaign, Illinois; Columbia, Missouri; Fremont, Ohio; Holland, Michigan; Kendallville, Indiana; Lowville, New York; New Ulm, Minnesota; Muscatine, Iowa; Mason City, Iowa; and Winchester, Virginia. Through the programme, Kraft Heinz expects to upgrade, electrify and decarbonise its process heat at ten facilities by applying a range of technologies including heat pumps, electric heaters and electric boilers in combination with biogas boilers, solar thermal, solar photovoltaic and thermal energy storage. With the new technologies, Kraft Heinz expects to reduce annual emissions by more than 300,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year. Additionally, the company predicts overall energy use after the implementation of energy efficiency measures, electrification and onsite generation to decline by 23%, natural gas use to decline by 97%, with the remaining 3% being used for standby equipment, and total water use to be reduced by 3%. By demonstrating the integration of multiple decarbonisation pathways, the company expects for the project to help major “a major US brand” achieve deep decarbonisation, serving as an example for other US F&B manufacturers. Marcos Eloi Lima, chief procurement and sustainability officer at Kraft Heinz, said: “At Kraft Heinz, we’re on a journey to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. This investment will give us critical resources to make necessary improvements in our plants to help increase their energy efficiency and reduce emissions. This investment recognises our continued efforts to reduce our environmental footprint, and we’re eager to get started.” Helen Davis, SVP and head of North America operations at Kraft Heinz, added: “The infrastructure changes made at these ten plants will allow us to replicate successful technologies and processes across our remaining US plants and globally, making us more efficient as we continue to make upgrades to more locations. I’m proud of the impact this project and award will have on our facilities, but also on our current and future workforce and the communities that surround our operations.” Under the project, Kraft Heinz expects to create an estimated 500 construction jobs across the ten sites. This is the latest in a number of investments from the US Department of Energy. Earlier this week, the department invested $20.9 million in Unilever to reduce carbon emissions at four of its US ice cream factories.