Kimberly-Clark Turns to Green Hydrogen in Supply Chain Shift
Kimberly-Clark, the company behind household products like Andrex and Kleenex, is introducing green hydrogen across its UK supply chain through a US$169m (£125m) agreement with energy partners.
The deal will support the construction of hydrogen facilities at its manufacturing sites in Barrow-in-Furness and Northfleet, a move aimed at reducing its natural gas use and associated emissions by half from 2027.
The partnership, which includes Carlton Power and HYRO—a joint venture between Octopus Energy Generation and RES—is backed by the UK government and marks one of the first long-term green hydrogen offtake agreements in the British consumer goods sector.
The energy produced will replace a portion of the fossil fuels currently used in steam and heat generation at the two paper mills, both of which contribute heavily to Kimberly-Clark's UK production output.
Hydrogen plants target fossil fuel dependency in tissue production
Kimberly-Clark’s two UK sites account for nearly one billion Andrex toilet rolls and over 150 million Kleenex tissue boxes annually.
To power these operations, the company relies heavily on natural gas—something it aims to change through green hydrogen integration.
Green hydrogen is generated through electrolysis, a process powered by renewable electricity that splits water into hydrogen and oxygen without releasing carbon emissions.
This makes it distinct from grey hydrogen, which comes from fossil fuels and blue hydrogen, which uses carbon capture to reduce emissions but still depends on gas.
"Now is the right time for us to tap into hydrogen’s significant potential, improving energy supply and our decarbonisation needs," says Dan Howell, Vice President and Managing Director at Kimberly-Clark UK & Ireland.
“This is a significant investment into a green hydrogen solution and alongside other investments that support our ambition to move our UK manufacturing operations to 100% renewable energy by 2030."
The Barrow plant will have the capacity to produce 100 GWh of green hydrogen energy annually, while the Northfleet site is set to generate 47 GWh. Combined, this is expected to eliminate 28,500 tonnes of CO2 emissions each year once the facilities are operational.
"Green hydrogen will play a significant role in decarbonising hard-to-electrify industries – and Kimberly-Clark has been a pioneer in this space," says Alex Brierley, Co-Head of Octopus Energy Generation’s Fund Management Team.
“This scheme will help produce household products using renewables and flush away fossil fuels for good.”
UK strategy supports large-scale rollout across industry
The UK government has laid out its hydrogen strategy to reach over 10 GW of low-carbon hydrogen production capacity by 2030.
The plan includes financial support through the Hydrogen Production Business Model and the Net Zero Hydrogen Fund, both of which are being used to help deliver the Kimberly-Clark projects.
“Green hydrogen, created using British low carbon energy, will revolutionise how we power industry, helping the UK to build a globally competitive, zero carbon economy in the process,” explains Lucy Whitford, Managing Director UK&I at RES.
Keith Clarke, Founder and Chief Executive of Carlton Power, comments: “Kimberly-Clark’s commitment to using green hydrogen in its operations is a significant move and shows great ambition and leadership.
"Our Barrow Green Hydrogen facility will be the first in a series of projects that we will bring into commercial operation over the next 2–4 years to support UK industry make the transition to using green hydrogen and away from fossil fuels.”
The move aligns with Kimberly-Clark’s broader environmental targets.
The firm is working toward a 50% reduction in absolute Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions—those directly from its operations and from purchased electricity—against a 2015 baseline by 2030.
“HYRO’s project with Kimberly-Clark at their Northfleet paper mill has progressed well, with government funding contracts in place and planning permission approved too,” Alex adds.
UK Minister for Industry Sarah Jones frames the wider policy goal: “This government is rolling out hydrogen out at scale for the first time, with ten of the first projects now shovel-ready to start powering businesses with clean, homegrown energy from Teesside to Devon.”
She adds: “Hydrogen will help us cut industrial emissions and support Britain’s industrial renewal by creating thousands of jobs in our industrial heartlands as part of the Plan for Change.”
Its clear this shape-up will be great for sustainability as well as the strengthening of supply chains around Britain.
