Dawn Meats has announced a €100m investment in order to reach a target of net zero operational emissions by 2040.
The company also said it is working towards a net zero supply chain as soon as possible.
Dawn Meat said it plans to invest in new infrastructure at its plants, including thermal energy generation and more efficient refrigeration systems.
It is also planning a move to greener packaging, and sourcing all its meat from sustainable farms.
The group's most recent sustainability report highlighted a 248,000-tonne reduction in greenhouse gases from its operations and supply chain in 2020.
For the year ending 2021, Dawn Meats said it achieved a 40% reduction in Scope 1 and 2 emissions and a 15% reduction in Scope 3 emissions intensity.
Gill Higgins, Group Sustainability Director at Dawn Meats and Dunbia, said that by working with the company's primary producers and wider supply chain partners on innovative approaches to food production and packaging it has an opportunity to address Scope 3 emissions in a meaningful way.
"These are emissions which are amongst the most difficult to combat, but industry collaboration is vital in working toward Net Zero," she stated.
Niall Browne, CEO of Dawn Meats and Dunbia, said that addressing climate change is one of the key challenges of our time.
"Dawn Meats has an opportunity to continue to positively impact the supply chain as well as our communities and environment, and a commitment to achieving net zero operational emissions by 2040 is a goal which is the culmination of significant progress to date," Mr Browne said.
"Our leadership and wider team across Ireland and the UK are fully focused on delivering this goal and while we are proud of our achievements to date, we recognise there is much still to do," he added.
