Umicore signs renewable electricity PPA with Gasum for its battery materials precursor and refining plant in Finland

Umicore has signed a second 10-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with Gasum to source renewable electricity for its site in Kokkola, Finland, where Umicore refines cobalt and produces precursor cathode active materials for electric vehicle batteries.

Gasum will provide Umicore with about 35 GWh of certified renewable electricity per year until 2035 from a non-subsidized Finland-based onshore wind farm, which was commissioned in December 2023.

“Through this second agreement with Gasum, Umicore proudly continues to expand its reliance on renewable electricity for its production. Last year more than 40 percent of our global electricity needs came from renewable sources and in Europe this was almost 60 percent,” said Géraldine Nolens, Umicore’s ESG Executive Vice President. ”Securing renewable electricity supply reduces the carbon footprint of our materials and secures our sustainable growth.”

In its Let’s go for Zero ESG ambition, Umicore aims to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2035 for its scope 1 emissions from its on-site operations, and for its scope 2 emissions, which relate to energy purchases. As a first milestone, Umicore aims to reduce its scope 1 and scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent in 2025 from the 2019 baseline.

“We are happy to strengthen our partnership with Umicore through this second Power Purchase Agreement. This adds to our joint efforts towards sustainable practices and supports Umicore's net-zero-target. This long-term deal safeguards Umicore from market unpredictability and boosts our green energy investments. We're excited to continue powering Umicore's Kokkola facility with clean, Finnish wind energy," said Ville Venäläinen, Senior PPA Portfolio Manager at Gasum.

Gasum is a major actor in the power markets and offers sophisticated power solutions to its customers. Besides power market services Gasum also offers biogas and natural gas for industry, maritime shipping, and road transport.

For more information:

Ville Venäläinen, Senior PPA Portfolio Manager, Gasum
Tel. +358406806514
E-mail: ville.venalainen@gasum.com

Caroline Jacobs, Media Relations Manager, Umicore
Tel. +32 2 227 71 29
E-mail: caroline.jacobs@eu.umicore.com

The energy company Gasum is a Nordic gas sector and energy market expert. Gasum offers cleaner energy and energy market expert services for industry and for combined heat and power production as well as cleaner fuel solutions for road and maritime transport. The company helps its customers to reduce their own carbon footprint as well as that of their customers. Together with its partners, Gasum promotes development towards a carbon-neutral future on land and at sea. www.gasum.com

About Umicore

Umicore is a circular materials technology company that focuses on application areas where its expertise in materials science, chemistry and metallurgy makes a real difference. Its activities are organized into four Business Groups: Battery Materials, Catalysis, Recycling and Specialty Materials. Each Business Group is divided into market-focused business units offering materials and solutions at the cutting edge of new technological developments and essential to everyday life.

Umicore generates most of its revenues from and dedicates most of its R&D efforts to clean mobility materials and recycling. Umicore’s overriding goal of sustainable value creation is based on an ambition to develop, produce and recycle materials in a way that fulfills its mission: Materials for a better life.

Umicore’s industrial and commercial operations as well as its R&D activities are spread across the world to best serve its international customer base with more than 11,500 employees. The Group generated revenues (excluding metal) of € 3.9 billion (turnover of € 18.3 billion) in 2023.