Decarbonising the value chain

Taking action on climate

Decarbonising our global food system requires reducing the carbon footprint throughout the food value chain. 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.

Solar energy panels

Progress throughout our value chain

To achieve our ambitions and targets, we are working to reduce emissions upstream2 in collaboration with suppliers, in our own operations, and downstream3 by working with our customers and other stakeholders.

Decarbonising upstream

Raw materials sourcing

Collaborating with our major base materials suppliers, responsible for 90% of our base materials4-related GHG emissions, we're actively helping to improve climate, biodiversity, and circular practices through the 'Join us in Protecting the Planet' initiative. Our goal: reduce supplier emissions by 50% by 2030 from 2019 levels. In our material usage, we're innovating beyond fossil fuels, exploring plant-based plastics and fiber-based barriers to replace conventional materials. Learn more here.

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 our own operations

Use of solav (PV) power

In line with the RE100 commitments made in 2016, we achieved 84% renewable electricity consumption in 2022 due to increasing our on-site solar photovoltaics (PVs) capacity from 5.55MW in 2021 to 8.47MW). We are targeting 100% renewable electricity in our own operations by 2030.

Switching to electric vehicles

The phasing out of fossil fuels is also applied to our onsite vehicles and offsite global car fleet, as well as a focus on reducing the number of trips and increasing the use of alternatives to air travel for the short haul.

Increasing energy efficiency at our sites

With the Common Energy Monitoring Platform (CEMP), we’re able to get an overview of our overall energy usage, cost, and production, as well as indoor/outdoor climate and weather data in real-time across all our sites to see where energy savings can be made. In our offices, we are also focusing on improved energy efficiency to lower CO2 emissions of our buildings, partly via increased use of PV power.

Compensating residual operational emissions

As part of a commitment to achieve net-zero emissions, we have also invested in an industry-first nature-based land restoration programme in Brazil: The Araucaria Conservation Programme. This project will measure carbon sequestration, supporting our target of net-zero carbon emissions by compensating for remaining CO2 emissions.

Decarbonising downstream

Impact of our equipment at customer sites

On the production side, more than 120 energy-saving and emission-reduction projects have been facilitated at customer sites. They are resulting in a proposal for more than 1,000 equipment upgrade solutions, effectively helping to reduce carbon emissions at our customers' operations since 2016.

In 2022, the Sustainability Agile Development Programme explored ways to reduce water and product loss through recovery solutions. Now we are exploring ways to reduce GHG emissions on dairy ambient processing lines. In addition to looking at integrating full-scale decarbonisation in food plants.

Decreasing GHG emissions in processing lines

We are accelerating the development and deployment of processing and filling solutions with 50% fewer emissions per unit of production5, which can reduce the impacts and emissions of our customers’ production processes. Read more here. 

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:

• Achieve net-zero GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions in our operations (scopes 1 and 2 and business travel)6 and -46% GHG reduction across our value chain in line with 1.5°C SBTi commitment compared to our 2019 baseline7
• Source 100% renewable electricity in our operations in line with RE100 commitments
• Reduce the carbon footprint of our best practice processing lines by 50% compared to 2019

• Reduce suppliers GHG emissions by 50% by setting actions to decrease the climate impact of purchased raw materials
• By 2050, work together with our suppliers, customers and other stakeholders to achieve net-zero GHG emissions across our value chain (scopes 1, 2 and 3)8 compared to our 2019 baseline

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.