As a key player in the food industry, we are working to reduce our environmental impact at every step of our value chain. Climate change mitigation and adaptation, along with addressing energy sources and intensity, are material topics for our business. Decarbonising our global food system requires reducing the carbon footprint and the efforts should, therefore, focus on action in four key areas: packaging, operations, customer operations, and raw materials.
Why decarbonising the value chain matters?
An essential step towards combating climate change is reducing GHG emission. Keeping global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels requires deep, rapid and sustained GHG emissions reductions in all sectors.
To ensure the evaluation of our value chain impact and the endorsement of our net zero plans by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi)1, we proudly became one of the initial 59 companies enrolled in the initiative. This accomplishment now as the basis for our strategic targets.
Our near-term SBTi approved target to reduce value chain emissions 46% by 2030 from a 2019 base year and the target to achieve net-zero GHG emissions in our operations by 2030 support our long-term 2050 net zero ambition.
Progress throughout our value chain
To achieve our ambitions and targets, we are working to reduce our environmental impact at every step of the value chain: upstream2 in collaboration with suppliers, in our own operations, and downstream3 by working with our customers and other stakeholders.
Decarbonising upstream
Raw materials sourcing
Our upstream impacts relate to goods and services that Tetra Pak purchases, such as raw materials and transportation, and account for 37% of the total emissions across our value chain. To reduce these emissions, we work with prioritised suppliers to decarbonise their operations and identify new, innovative solutions, including more renewable, plant-based materials in our packages. This includes using paper straws, plant-based caps and paper-based protective layers that help to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. We also prioritise purchasing materials from suppliers with lower emissions.
Reducing transportation footprint
Beyond production and distribution, we’re also looking at ways to reduce our suppliers' transport footprint. For instance, innovations in alternative lightweight paper-based carton packages enable more efficient stacking and larger truckloads compared to alternatives – reducing the total distribution and operational footprint for our customers. For Tetra Recart, for example, up to 20% more units can be transported per truck.
Decarbonising downstream
Supporting our customers to decarbonise
There are numerous ways in which we can help our customers reduce their emissions. These include delivering more efficient equipment and solutions for our customers’ operations by developing and deploying energy-efficient processing and filling equipment and upgrading their existing equipment. To drive the sales of our sustainable portfolio, mainly processing and packaging lines, we introduced an internal Sustainability Sales Index. This has been tracking sales of processing equipment included in the sustainable portfolio for the past three years and will include services and factory-wide solutions sales in 2024, to double the sales of our sustainable portfolio by 2030.
Decreasing GHG emissions in processing lines
Our best-practice line for yoghurt milk, which uses the OneStep technology, for example, combines the steps of making yoghurt (separation, standardisation, blending, heat treatment) into one, making the production energy-efficient, with low consumption of electricity and steam. It reduces emissions and saves resources compared with earlier Tetra Pak lines.
Product lifecycle assessments
To understand the carbon footprint of our products throughout their lifecycle, life cycle assessments are conducted to identify areas for improvement and guide decisions related to material sourcing, production processes, and end-of-life management.
Our strategic ambitions and 2030 targets
Our decarbonisation efforts focus on avoiding and mitigating GHG emissions across the value chain and carbon compensation to balance unavoidable residual emissions through nature-based solutions and other initiatives.
The strategic ambitions and 2030 targets we have set include:
1The Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) helps companies set realistic, impactful emission-reduction targets to help prevent the worst impacts of climate change and, at the same time, future-proof business growth. Targets are considered ‘science-based’ if they are in line with the latest climate science and the Paris Agreement goals – limiting global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. Source: https://www.tetrapak.com/about-tetra-pak/stories/net-zero-science-based-targets
2‘Upstream’ refers to the early stages in the operations of a business or industry, as exploration and production in the oil business (opposed to downstream). Source: https://www.dictionary.com/browse/upstream
3‘Downstream’ refers to the latter part of a process or system: https://www.dictionary.com/browse/downstream
4Base materials are the materials we use to produce the packaging we sell to food and beverage producers, including paperboard, polymers, aluminium foil and inks.
5Compared to 2019 for best practice lines.
6Scope 1 covers direct emissions from owned or controlled sources. Scope 2 covers indirect emissions from the generation of purchased electricity, steam, heating, and cooling consumed by the reporting company. Scope 3 includes all other indirect emissions that occur in a company’s value chain.
7The target boundary includes land related emissions and removals from bioenergy feedstocks.
8Scope 1 covers direct emissions from owned or controlled sources. Scope 2 covers indirect emissions from the generation of purchased electricity, steam, heating, and cooling consumed by the reporting company. Scope 3 includes all other indirect emissions that occur in a company’s value chain.