Planned sustainability projects at Kraft Heinz take hit in federal cuts

Kraft Heinz lost a $170 million grant award for sustainability projects at 10 of its U.S. plants in a round of cuts by the U.S. Department of Energy.

The funding was awarded April 2024 by the Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations. Nationwide, 24 projects with funding totaling more than $3.7 billion were cut in moves announced May 30 by U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright.

Wright said “a thorough and individualized financial review of each award” found the projects “failed to advance the energy needs of the American people, were not economically viable and would not generate a positive return on investment of taxpayer dollars.”

According to the Chicago Sun-Times, Kraft Heinz planned to use the funds to install heat pumps, electric heaters and boilers, anaerobic digesters and biogas boilers. Combined with additional solar and thermal energy projects, the technologies were expected to lower the company’s use of natural gas by 97% by 2030 and energy use by 23%.

Facilities affected by the funding cut are located in Illinois, Missouri, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, New York, Iowa, Minnesota and Virginia.

Kraft Heinz told the Sun-Times that it still planned to invest $3 billion “to modernize our U.S. supply chain infrastructure. We will continue to drive energy efficiency projects forward as we make these investments.”