Charles River Laboratories Announces Wind Contract with Repsol for European Operations

By 2023, 90% of all global electricity for Charles River will be supplied by renewable energy

WILMINGTON, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. (NYSE: CRL) today announced a wind energy contract with Repsol to address the entirety of the Company’s European power requirements with renewable energy by 2023.

Charles River has entered into a virtual power purchase agreement (VPPA) with Repsol, a multi-energy company, for wind energy in Spain. The contract is for 30.5 megawatts (MW) of renewable energy, which is equivalent to avoiding carbon emissions from the annual electricity consumption of more than 28,000 homes.

The VPPA is associated with a wind farm that is part of Repsol's Delta II project. Repsol continues to promote its low carbon generation business through the development of quality and profitable renewable assets. The project has already begun construction and, once completed in 2023, will have a total capacity of 860 MW distributed among 26 wind farms located in the Spanish region of Aragon. Renewable power generation is one of the pillars of Repsol's decarbonization strategy. As a result, Repsol recently raised its installed capacity targets for 2030 to 20 gigawatts (GW), an increase of 60% over the previous target. By 2025, installed capacity will increase to 6 GW.

This VPPA is the second of Charles River’s recent sustainability announcements related to renewable electricity—in June 2021, Charles River announced a solar contract to address the entirety of its North American electric power requirements. That project is also on track to begin providing Charles River with renewable energy benefits by 2023. As a result of the two VPPA’s, Charles River anticipates that 90% of all its global electricity will be supplied by renewable energy by 2023.

Schneider Electric, the leading advisor on corporate renewable energy procurement globally, supported Charles River in the selection of and negotiations for the project. To learn more about Charles River’s sustainability efforts visit its Corporate Citizenship page.

Approved Quotes

• “As a global organization, we feel a significant responsibility to care for our planet. I am proud of the progress we’ve made in recent years to reduce our climate impact, and look forward to this next phase of our energy strategy.” –Birgit Girshick, Corporate Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer at Charles River
• “Charles River has continued to drive down our Scope 1 and 2 GHG reductions toward our goal of a 50% reduction on an absolute basis by 2030, achieving a 26% reduction from 2018 to 2020. This European VPPA will move us significantly closer to meeting our overall goal of a 50% reduction by 2030.” –Gregg Belardo, Senior Director of EHS & Sustainability at Charles River
• “This agreement marks yet another example of Repsol's continued development of its low-carbon generation business with assets that deliver both quality and profitability for partners and investors such as Charles River, which secures the corresponding benefits of powering its facilities with renewable energy.” –João Costeira, Executive Director of Low Carbon Generation at Repsol
• “After recently executing a long-term solar energy contract in North America, we’re pleased to see Charles River expand its renewable energy procurement efforts into Europe. Congratulations to the company on advancing its 2030 sustainability goals.” –Philippe Diez, Partner Sustainability Business Division Europe for Schneider Electric

About Charles River

Charles River provides essential products and services to help pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, government agencies and leading academic institutions around the globe accelerate their research and drug development efforts. Our dedicated employees are focused on providing clients with exactly what they need to improve and expedite the discovery, early-stage development and safe manufacture of new therapies for the patients who need them. To learn more about our unique portfolio and breadth of services, visit www.criver.com.