Becoming a low carbon business | Rolls-Royce

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We develop and deliver complex power and propulsion solutions.

For more than 100 years we have been at the forefront of innovation. Helping to power, protect and connect the modern world.

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We develop and deliver complex power and propulsion solutions for safety-critical applications in the air, at sea and on land.

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Updates and news from around the Rolls-Royce businesses.

Becoming a low carbon business

Our journey to becoming a low carbon business

Reaching net zero operations, facilities and product test by 2050

We are committed to reaching net zero emissions from our operations, facilities and product test by 2050.

To do this, we have committed to reduce our Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 46% by 2030 against a 2019 baseline. Our number one priority will always be safety, followed by maximising in-service product efficiency.

We are focused on delivering this commitment in a safe, cost-effective manner and we have made good progress already: we have already reduced our overall energy facility consumption by approximately 29% since 2014.

SEE OUR ANNUAL REPORT FOR MORE INFORMATION

Reducing the environmental impact of our operations

We are doing everything we can to reduce the environmental impacts of our operations and have already made good progress.

Here are some of our other achievements

£3.9M

Invested into our decarbonisation programme

67%

Progress towards delivering 46% reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from our operations, facilities and product test by 2030 vs 2019 baseline

31%

We have cut absolute Scope 1 + 2 emissions by 31% since 2019

86%

Reduction in non-hazardous waste to landfill since 2014

Reducing our energy use

Energy efficiency is vital to achieving our net zero 2030 goal. That’s why we have invested over £3.9M in decarbonisation programmes in 2025.

These include upgrading lighting, updating heating and installing networked building management systems.

On-site deployment of renewables and low-carbon technology

The largest contribution to our emissions reduction will come through a move to renewable and low-carbon electricity sources. Our strategic priority in this area is onsite generation, supplemented by a multi-year Energy Attribute Certificate (EAC) strategy. This strategy includes multi-year options to secure compliant EACs including private wire Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs), Sleeved PPAs, Virtual Power Purchase Agreements (VPPAs) and bundled contracts. By 2030, we plan to be powered by 100% renewable and low-carbon electricity sources with a few geographical exclusions where this is not technically feasible.

One of the ways we have done this is by installing solar panels as part of a global initiative called Project Sunshine at our facilities in Singapore, the UK, Europe and North America.

Our ground source heat pump and solar thermal hybrid technology project enable us to collect, store and provide heat at our site in Bristol, UK, throughout the year.

We plan to increase the proportion of our global energy requirements with on-site renewables or low-carbon technologies. In 2025 25% of our global energy requirements came from on-site renewables or low-carbon technologies.

Mamta Bhasin, Global Category Manager – Supplier Sourcing & Strategy, Asia Pacific, Rolls-Royce

Mamta Bhasin

Mamta Bhasin

“Solar is an important and inexhaustible source of energy. Being able to harness natural energy and use it to power our operations will enable us to reduce the environmental impact of our operations and gain greater pricing certainty for the future.”

Buying in renewable energy

Where we are unable to produce our own renewable or low-carbon energy, we seek to buy 100% renewable energy from elsewhere.

In 2019, we switched our facilities in the UK and Germany to electricity contracts backed by the Renewable Energy Guarantee of Origin (REGO) scheme.

Closed-loop manufacturing

Components made of exotic materials are critical to the safety and efficiency of our products and each year, we use over 20,000 tonnes of high-value metal alloys.

We’re working to reuse as much metal as we can through our closed-loop recycling programme, saving approximately 300,000 megawatt hours of energy and 80,000 tonnes of CO₂ per year.

Moving forward, we’re also designing more re-usable materials into our products and building new supply chains for these where needed.

REDUCING RESOURCE DEMAND

Reducing our emissions using our own products

Deploying our own innovative energy solutions at our own sites.

At our manufacturing facility in Friedrichshafen, Germany, we have installed a microgrid where gas engines are combined with battery and solar photovoltaic panels to provide 30% of the site’s energy demand.

Microgrid solutions can provide the intelligent use of energy from renewable sources for our customers as well. In the UK, the MOD accounts for 50% of Government-generated carbon emissions and the figure is even higher in the US. As the MOD modernises its estate, the application of a microgrid could not only provide a significant first step for a military base seeking to reduce its emissions, but also drive a much more efficient and cost-effective use of energy.

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT MICROGRIDS

Stefanie Cray, Business Development Manager Microgrids, Friedrichshafen, Rolls-Royce

Stephanie Cray

Stephanie Cray

“Our microgrid helps us to reduce our energy costs and carbon emissions on-site, while allowing us to demonstrate system and component behaviour in real time.”

Rigorous and safe testing is our most important challenge

Product safety testing is a critical part of engine development

We will seek to mitigate the emissions associated with product testing by increasing the use of lower-carbon alternative fuels as availability rises and using digital modelling and other technologies to replace some physical testing where appropriate in our product testing regime.

We recognise the need to ensure these activities are aligned with our decarbonisation goals and are committed to working with customers, regulators and industry partners to explore ways to meet our product testing demands without generating carbon emissions.

We continue to use sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) blends across our Civil Aerospace and Defence testing activities to help mitigate some of these emissions. Throughout 2025 genset testing inPower Systems used 14.9% hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) fuel (2024: 3.4%).

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT TESTING