Estee Lauder Companies is to source 22MW of electricity from the 200MW Ponderosa wind farm in the US state of Oklahoma under a virtual power purchase agreement (VPPA) with a subsidiary of NextEra Energy Resources.
The deal will cover more than half of the company’s global electricity footprint, putting the beauty products company on track to meet its global 2020 net zero carbon emissions RE100 commitment.
Construction of Ponderosa, which is located in Beaver County, is scheduled to start in early 2020.
Estee Lauder senior vice president, global corporate citizenship and sustainability Nancy Mahon said: “The Estee Lauder Companies is committed to innovating to help achieve a low-carbon future.
“We’re so pleased to meet our 2020 RE100 commitment for North America early.
“Projects like the Ponderosa wind farm and others in our net zero portfolio are all significant achievements toward our commitments to address climate change.”
NextEra Energy Resources vice president of development John Di Donato said: “We are proud to partner with The Estee Lauder Companies on this forward-looking investment in renewable energy.
“In addition to low cost, homegrown energy, the Ponderosa wind project will create good jobs and millions of dollars in additional revenue for the local community – helping fuel America’s clean energy economy.”
The Ponderosa VPPA is the latest renewable energy project in the company’s clean power portfolio, which also includes a 1MW solar system at its Whitman Laboratories in the UK and a 1.4MW ground-mounted solar array at its Melville campus in New York.
Estee Lauder added that other projects are in the pipeline.
The company has also announced that it will build on the existing net zero commitment and set a science-based target covering scopes 1, 2 and 3 emissions by the end of 2020.