Kimberly-Clark Commits Over £125 Million to Green Hydrogen for UK Tissue Manufacturing

Kimberly-Clark UK and Ireland has signed long-term green hydrogen offtake agreements with Carlton Power and the HYRO joint venture, committing over £125 million to build green hydrogen facilities at its manufacturing sites in Kent and Cumbria. The move makes Kimberly-Clark the first major UK consumer products company to adopt green hydrogen at scale.

The investment targets Kimberly-Clark's Northfleet and Barrow-in-Furness plants, which together produce nearly one billion Andrex toilet rolls and over 150 million boxes of Kleenex tissues annually. Green hydrogen, generated via electrolysis using renewable energy, will replace natural gas used for steam generation at both sites. The Barrow project will deliver 100 GWh of green hydrogen annually, while the Northfleet facility will supply 47 GWh. Combined, the projects are projected to cut carbon emissions by 28,500 tonnes per year.

The hydrogen shift forms a cornerstone of Kimberly-Clark's strategy to reduce UK operational GHG emissions by over 80 per cent by 2027 against a 2015 baseline, and is expected to deliver a 50 per cent reduction versus 2024 natural gas consumption across UK production from 2027. Both projects were selected under the UK government's Hydrogen Allocation Round One and receive support through the Hydrogen Production Business Model and Net Zero Hydrogen Fund. Planning consent has been secured for both sites.

Kimberly-Clark's commitment signals growing confidence among consumer goods manufacturers that green hydrogen can be commercially viable for industrial heat applications, traditionally one of the hardest segments to decarbonise with renewable electricity. The company also holds a 2023 power purchase agreement tied to a £75 million onshore wind farm in Scotland. Its global commitment to halve Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2030 places the UK investments at the centre of a broader decarbonisation roadmap.

Key figure — 28,500 tonnes of CO2 cut per year