Becoming a CarbonNeutral® company was an important milestone in our journey to continuously improve the environmental performance of our products. By offering CarbonNeutral® packaging solutions to customers, we're contributing to their sustainability goals as well as enabling the liquid food industry to help mitigate climate change.
Marianne Groven, Director Sustainability, Elopak
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Elopak looked at emissions from the life-cycle of its packaging as well as the emissions of the company’s operations.
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To measure the emissions of its packaging, Elopak calculated the life-cycle emissions of its packaging, including data on the materials and services that goes into the packaging, its manufacture and its distribution to customers.
To measure the emissions of the company’s operations, Elopak calculated the emissions arising from owned, leased or directly controlled stationary and mobile sources that use fossil fuels; emissions from the generation of purchased electricity, heat, and cooling; and emissions from waste and business travel and transport.
Natural Capital Partners helped contract an independent third-party to conduct the greenhouse gas emissions assessment.
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In 2016, Elopak decided to become a CarbonNeutral® company and offer its customers CarbonNeutral® packaging.
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Elopak is delivering a range of internal emissions reductions, including a 70% reduction in absolute emissions since 2008. In November 2018 Elopak has also committed to setting a Science-Based Target to ensure that these internal reductions are in line with the level of decarbonisation required to keep global temperature increase below levels advocated by the latest climate science.
Elopak has purchased renewable electricity across all of its operations since 2016 as part of its commitment to the RE100.
Elopak’s carbon neutral goal has also been met by financing emission reduction projects that build low carbon sustainable development. Natural Capital Partners has helped Elopak make emissions reductions through projects that relate to its core raw material: trees. One project is Rimba Raya, protecting rainforest and the orangutan in Borneo, Indonesia by protecting over 640 km2 of rainforest from palm oil plantations by incentivising the local population to protect the forest and prevention of illegal logging through patrols and guard towers. The project is validated and verified to the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) and has obtained Triple Gold status within the Climate Community and Biodiversity (CCB) Standard.
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How a company manages its environmental impacts is an increasingly important differentiator for materials businesses such as Elopak, whose customers are demanding their suppliers take climate action seriously in order to meet their own sustainability commitments. A CarbonNeutral® product offering and CarbonNeutral® company status are two of the many actions Elopak is taking to demonstrate that. They form part of the Future Proofed Packaging sustainability strategy, which aims towards zero net impact on the environment and includes other actions including renewable raw materials, low carbon packaging and promoting recycling nationally and locally.
Elopak’s Pure-Pak® cartons offer some of Europe’s largest beverage brands the chance to promote carbon neutrality to their consumers.