By 2050, the global population is forecast to rise to 10 billion1, and the demand for food to increase by 60%2. Furthermore, food security not only supports nutrition and health, it is also the foundation for economic growth3. A lack of stable and long-lasting food security restricts the human capital4 development required for sustainable economic growth, raising government costs, thereby holding back growth in the long-term at country, regional and global levels.
At the same time, however, although food systems5 are essential to feed the modern world, they are accountable for more than one-third of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions6. This tension between the demands for greater food productivity and lower emissions presents a significant challenge. Furthermore, in 2023, nearly 282 million people faced high levels of acute food insecurity7. As global temperatures are currently forecast to rise to 1.5°C - 2°C above pre-industrial levels8, pressures on farming and food production are likely to escalate further leading to food insecurity, and increased hunger.
This is why as a company we want to drive the transformation of global food systems, ensuring people have access to safe food everywhere, with all the other benefits that come with that, while protecting people and the planet.
In our sustainability agenda, we focus on five interconnected areas: food systems (food); social sustainability (people); and climate, nature, and circularity (the planet). Together, these interconnected areas support one another to create a holistic approach that drives change across our value chain and our industry.
In 2024, we made further progress in each area.
Expand each section to find out more
As nations grapple with the urgent need to curb GHG emissions and enhance food security, the transformation of food systems has become a top priority. And as the Climate COP in Baku (COP29) highlighted, world leaders, policymakers, and sustainability advocates are increasingly focused on an often-overlooked segment: the so-called “hidden middle” of agri-food chains, meaning the steps between farm to table – food processing, packaging, storage, transportation and distribution. The hidden middle represents 18% of agrifood emissions and accounts for up to 40% of the economic value added in food systems9.
Establishing and driving sustainable food systems requires long-term commitment, forward-looking investment, continuous innovation, and collaboration with stakeholders. Since our journey started in 1951 in Sweden, we have worked to make food safe and available worldwide. Our technology and solutions have contributed to reducing food waste and making food accessible for over 70 years, protecting the quality and safety of perishable foods while extending their shelf life. In 2024, we celebrated 30 years in Vietnam, 40 years in the US, 45 years in Argentina, 45 years in China, and 65 years in Mexico, to name a few.
Across 29 sites around the world, last year we also provided Dairy Hub support to help 84,000 smallholder dairy farmers – helping them to achieve greater income security while providing a stable raw milk supply to dairy manufacturers, thereby growing the local dairy industries sustainably. Furthermore, 66 million children in 49 countries enjoyed milk or other nutritious beverages in our packages through school feeding programmes.
Looking more broadly at all people on the planet, in 2024 we delivered 178 billion carton packages globally in total, while also processing millions of tonnes of additional food for consumer products such as cheese, ice cream and powder with our food processing solutions. The total value of the global food and beverage sector that we serve as a company is significant, estimated by some sources to be at least €2.6 trillion10 of sales value, illustrating the importance that food production and distribution play to drive economic growth and associated benefits.
We aspire to improve the livelihoods of people across the world by giving access to safe food; contributing to economic growth; and respecting human rights in our workplaces, our value chain, and the communities in which we operate.
We take a value chain approach, and collaborating with our suppliers is key. As part of our Join Us in Protecting the Planet initiative, we work with a group of 150 prioritised suppliers to support livelihoods in our supply chain. In 2024, 29 of our suppliers committed to a climate target validated by the Science Based Target Initiative. We also helped suppliers to develop strategies to protect nature and carry out enhanced human rights due diligence to identify where impacts most need to be addressed.
We made improvements in safety, reducing our total recordable accident rate by 10%. And when it comes to employee attitudes around safety, we can proudly share that 92% of employees responded favourably in our global internal survey to the statement "people in my team are protected from health and safety hazards". In that same survey, 84% of employees reported that they feel able to bring their "whole selves" to work – an important benchmark in our ongoing work on employee diversity, equity and inclusion for all.
In this spirit, we also launched a dedicated project focused on improving disability inclusion across our workplaces, with the aim to build a more inclusive environment where employees with disabilities have equal opportunities to grow and succeed. We’re also proud to share we achieved an overall employee engagement score of 87%11.
Within Tetra Pak, we believe in making a positive impact on the communities where we live and work, and this includes volunteering. Because of this, on 4 December 2024, also International Volunteer Day, we launched new global volunteering guidelines. This means that since 1 January 2025, every employee has up to one day of paid leave per year to participate in volunteering activities that are organised by the company locally. The activities are designed to support our purpose to protect food (such as with food banks, hunger relief activities or food waste reduction activities etc.), people (with support for those affected by natural disasters, community building programmes, or child development and education) and the planet (such as with waste collection, recycling activities or tree planting).
Further downstream in our value chain, we also supported concrete actions that made a real difference in the lives of informal waste collection workers in Brazil, Colombia, Egypt, India and Vietnam. From increasing access to health and social services, providing personal protective equipment, or connecting people to community libraries or after-school reading classes – we supported targeted solutions to make a tangible difference.
With more than one third of global GHG emissions attributed to food systems12 , the role of the food industry in mitigating climate change is paramount. Therefore, we remain focused on decarbonising our value chain. In 2024, we reduced GHG emissions in our own operations13 by 54% and across our value chain by 25%14, both figures versus our 2019 baseline. The share of renewable electricity used at our sites rose to 94% in 2024, and we are on track to achieve net-zero GHG emissions in our own operations by 2030.
Downstream, improving efficiency and competitiveness for customers went hand-in-hand with reducing climate impact. In 2024, we brought AirTight with Encapt™ technology for our separators to market – providing our customers with a reduction in energy consumption of up to 40%. This illustrates well how our advanced equipment, combined with services, can aid customers to save energy, water and emissions during food production operations, while reducing food loss in production sites around the globe. Elsewhere in our FY24 Sustainability Report you can read how our advanced manufacturing solutions help food production factories achieve up to a 40% reduction in energy consumption and a 60% improvement in quality consistency, preventing food waste. This shows how taking a holistic approach to food production, powered by advanced technologies, can unlock new opportunities to improve performance that benefits food producers and the planet alike. Such advancements also demonstrate our ongoing commitment to work together with suppliers, customers and other stakeholders to achieve net-zero GHG emissions across the value chain by 2050 compared to our 2019 baseline.
Another highlight of 2024 was the launch of our comprehensive Approach to Nature framework. Built on concrete actions and more than 20 measurable targets, this framework defines our contribution to halting and reversing nature loss, supporting the restoration of ecosystems, and enhancing water security.
The Araucaria Conservation Programme in Southern Brazil had another breakthrough year in 2024 with a five-fold increase in land restored compared to 2023. In addition to the project’s overall aim to promote native biodiversity and combat climate change15 , by restoring this landscape in collaboration with local farmers, who receive government compensation for meeting environmental requirements, we create a sustainable development model that also secures livelihoods and economic growth.
Throughout 2024, we continued to apply circular economy principles across our value chain to reduce waste and resource use across our own operations, including for our packaging and our processing equipment. We take a holistic approach when it comes to circularity, from design to end-of-life. We design recyclable food packaging, increase the use of recycled and renewable materials, and expand collection and recycling infrastructure to keep materials in use.
We continue to invest approximately €100 million in packaging research and development every year to further enhance the environmental profile of cartons without compromising food safety. This investment led to innovations such as recycled polymer caps developed in partnership with Elle & Vire, and the Tetra Brik Aseptic 200 Slim Leaf with a paper-based barrier. In 2024 we also invested an additional €42 million to support the expansion of collection and recycling infrastructure for used beverage cartons worldwide. As part of the effort to help deliver our circular economy vision, over 1.3 million tonnes of used beverage cartons were collected and sent for recycling globally, supporting an increase of the global collection for recycling rate to 28%. As part of these efforts, we engaged with 215 recyclers worldwide.
It is only through collaboration with our customers, suppliers and other stakeholders, combined with the passion and dedication of our teams, that we can take these steps forward, to create solutions for the challenges society faces. It is also why our commitment remains intact. Together, we will continue to deliver on our purpose: “We commit to making food safe and available, everywhere, and we promise to protect what’s good: food, people, and the planet”.
Footnotes:
1,2 World Economic Forum (2024). Renovation and reinvention are key to saving our food system. Source: https://www.weforum.org/stories/2024/06/renovation-reinvention-food/
3 IFPRI https://www.ifpri.org/blog/food-security-brings-economic-growth-not-other-way-around/
4 WEF definition of human capital - https://www.weforum.org/publications/the-global-competitiveness-report-2020/in-full/section-2-human-capital/
5 Food systems refer to all the elements and activities related to producing and consuming food, and their effects, including economic, health and environmental outcomes. Source : https://www.oecd.org/food-systems/
6 FAO (2022) https://openknowledge.fao.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/121cc613-3d0f-431c-b083-cc2031dd8826/content
7 Global Report on Food Crises 2024 https://www.wfp.org/publications/global-report-food-crises-grfc
8 Copernicus (2024): 2024 is the first year to exceed 1.5°C above pre industrial level https://climate.copernicus.eu/copernicus-2024-first-year-exceed-15degc-above-pre-industrial-level
9 https://www.tetrapak.com/sustainability/acting-for-sustainability/moving-food-forward/global-events
10 Source: GlobalData. Includes packed water, dairy, cheese, plant-based, juices and nectars, still drinks, ready to drink beverages, wines and spirits, ice cream, plus pet food.
11 Tetra Pak employee engagement survey., Perceptyx defines employee engagement as the level of commitment, enthusiasm, and involvement that an employee has toward their work and their employer.
12 FAO (2022) https://openknowledge.fao.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/121cc613-3d0f-431c-b083-cc2031dd8826/content
13 Scope 1, 2 and business travel since 2019
14 Since 2019; -7% reduction since 2023
15 https://www.tetrapak.com/sustainability/focus-areas/biodiversity-and-nature/land-restoration