Valtra celebrates 5 years of carbon reduction with renewable diesel

Photo: Valtra Inc.

This year Valtra marks five years of collaboration with energy company Neste Corp. on renewable diesel.

The Nordic tractor brand uses Neste MY Renewable Diesel for all of its tractor testing, and first fills every tractor’s fuel tanks with the renewable diesel before it leaves the Suolahti factory in Finland.

Valtra’s long-standing interest in renewable fuel is part of a wider strategy to reduce the company’s carbon footprint.

Neste My Renewable Diesel is made from 100 percent waste and residues.

Due to its sustainable, renewable characteristics, an engine running on Neste My Renewable Diesel reduces its carbon footprint by 90 percent on average.

Valtra calculates that over the past five years it has used around 4 million liters (1.06 million gallons) of renewable diesel.

This has reduced Valtra’s carbon footprint by approximately 12.24 million kilograms, which is roughly equivalent to removing 4,735 diesel cars from our roads.

“Valtra was among the first companies that showed leadership in their industry and decided to reduce their greenhouse-gas emissions with Neste MY Renewable Diesel,” said Heidi Peltonen, sustainable-partnerships lead at Neste. “We are extremely happy to see the reduced climate impact that our partnership has created and are looking forward to continuing the collaboration in the future.”

Valtra’s commitment to reducing its carbon footprint has led to many innovations and strategies in recent years.

For example, since 2022, Valtra’s factory in Suolahti, Finland, has operated using 100 percent renewable energy. Its portfolio of renewable sources includes wind, water and biomass-based resources as well as solar panels on the roof of the factory. Careful energy management has seen the factory reduce its energy consumption by 12.5 percent in recent years.

As well as looking to its own operations, Valtra works with its partners and customers to help them reduce their environmental impact.

Through these efforts, Valtra has reduced its inbound emissions by 17 percent since 2018.

When it comes to assisting customers, Mikko Lehikoinen, vice president of marketing for Valtra EME, is passionate about helping farmers reap the greatest benefits of Valtra’s tractors and technology.

“We know that farmers are switched on to the subject of sustainability,” Lehikoinen said. “Our smart-farming technologies enable farmers to lower fertilizer and pesticide usage to be Green Deal-ready. We also know that they want to reduce their fuel consumption. We have the tools, like Valtra Connect, to help them monitor their tractor usage and find ways to reduce fuel consumption. If you can combine intelligence like that with the lower-carbon footprint from using Neste MY Renewable Diesel, then it’s a real win-win situation.”