Arla Foods has been nominated for Denmark’s Green Power Award 2026 following major investments in electrifying dairy production, including the replacement of natural gas with electric heat pumps and boilers at several production sites.

Arla Foods has been named one of three finalists for Denmark’s Green Power Award 2026 in recognition of its large-scale efforts to electrify dairy production and replace fossil fuels with electricity.

The award, presented by Green Power Denmark, honours companies that have successfully replaced fossil energy with electric solutions.

Arla has been nominated following significant investments in the electrification of process heat across its dairy operations, where natural gas has increasingly been replaced by heat pumps and electric boilers. In total, the cooperative has invested around DKK 600 million in the transition.

According to Arla, the initiative has contributed to a 44 per cent reduction in Scope 1 and 2 emissions since 2015. By the end of 2025, all of the company’s European production sites were operating on renewable electricity.

One example is AKAFA in Svenstrup, Denmark, which produces milk powder for global markets. The site’s spray drying operations – among the most energy-intensive processes in dairy manufacturing – are now powered by high-temperature electric heat pumps.

The two other finalists are electronics manufacturer DEIF and Danish farmer Peter Nielsen, who in 2025 invested in Denmark’s first fully electric tractor and now operates a dairy farm with an entirely electric machinery fleet.

The winner of the Green Power Award 2026 will be announced on 19 May at Green Power Denmark’s annual summit.

By Maja Løvstrup
Photo: Green Power Denmark