Hygiene and health company Essity has entered an exclusive partnership with the global technology company Voith to develop a new tissue making process that will reduce energy and CO2 emissions while cutting water consumption by up to 95%.

After becoming the first company in the industry to produce tissue in a CO2-free production process using renewable hydrogen a few weeks ago, and produce high-quality tissue from agricultural waste one and a half years earlier, the hygiene and health company Essity is set to achieve yet another major milestone in the company's commitment to achieving net zero emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050.

In an exclusive partnership with Voith, Essity will collaborate in the development of a new disruptive concept that revolutionizes and rethinks tissue manufacturing. Compared to conventional paper making processes, this process enables CO2-neutral tissue production, and reduces freshwater consumption by 95%, and energy consumption by up to 40%.

"Sustainability is integrated into Essity's strategy for long-term profitable growth. We are committed to reducing our environmental footprint and achieving net zero emissions by 2050. The partnership with Voith is yet another concrete example of this," says Magnus Groth, President and CEO of Essity.

The initiative incorporates both Essity's extensive expertise in the tissue industry and Voith's know-how as the leading technology supplier.

"As the full-line supplier to the paper industry, we have set ourselves the ambitious goal of being able to realize CO2-neutral paper production by 2030," says Andreas Endters, President & CEO of Voith Paper. "The fact that we have developed this new process is an important milestone in the industry and demonstrates our high level of innovation. We are very pleased to have found a suitable partner in Essity, who shares our objective of climate-neutral paper production."

Successful test runs have already taken place on a laboratory scale, and the concept is now being transferred to a dynamic process. A pilot phase will be launched later this year before being implemented industrially.

Read more about Essity's journey to net zero here.