Arla’s cottage cheese dairy in Falkenberg, Sweden, has become fossil-free. At the same time, it has optimized its energy consumption and reduced CO2 emissions.

Arla Falkenberg has replaced natural gas with biomass-based district heating and optimized energy usage, achieving a reduction in CO2 emissions of approximately 3,000 tons per year.

“This is an important milestone for us. This investment benefits both the environment and our business. We are significantly reducing our climate impact while using energy more efficiently,” says Christian Svensson, Dairy Manager at Arla Falkenberg.

The final test runs were completed in mid-December, and since then, the facility has operated entirely without fossil energy sources. The dairy is now the sixth of Arla’s eleven dairies in Sweden to transition to fossil-free operations.

Alongside the switch to fossil-free energy, the dairy is also becoming more energy-efficient. For example, the facility’s steam boilers have been replaced with a hot water-based system, reducing heat loss in the distribution system by approximately 10%. Overall, the dairy’s energy consumption is expected to decrease by just over 3,000 megawatt-hours per year, equivalent to the annual energy usage of 150 average homes.

Arla Falkenberg is Europe’s largest cottage cheese dairy. In the record year of 2024, the dairy processed approximately 120 million kilograms of milk, which was turned into around 22,500 tons of cottage cheese.

Read the full press release HERE Foto: Arla