The company has agreed to buy 100% renewable power for all its production facilities and offices worldwide, including business units owned by more than 50%, from 2016, to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by over 40% compared to 2014.
Taking action on climate change
Elopak produces Pure-Pak beverage cartons and Roll Fed packaging material and celebrated the 100 year anniversary of its Pure-Pak gable top carton this year.
Kristian Hall, director, environment, Elopak Group, told BeverageDaily, joining the campaign sends a signal that Elopak is serious about reducing its environmental impact and taking action on climate change.
“There is no doubt renewable power is a very important part of how to mitigate climate change,” he said.
“It will significantly reduce our corporate carbon footprint, and further improve the environmental attributes of our beverage cartons. It will help us to maintain the low carbon footprint of our products.
“We will buy 100% renewable power for all our production facilities and business units except two joint ventures in which we do not have financial control.”
RE100 was officially launched at Climate Week NYC in 2014 and includes companies from all over the world across a range of sectors, such as telecommunications, electronics, home furnishing, clothing, consumer goods, confectionary, IT, banking and insurance.
COP 21 in Paris
The news also comes ahead of The Sustainable Innovation Forum (SIF15), the largest business focused event held during the annual Conference of Parties (COP), taking place at COP 21, Stade de France, Paris (December 7-8).
Hall said Elopak heard about the RE100 campaign via its membership with the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP).
“As the COP 21 in Paris draws near, it is crucial businesses step up to the plate to mitigate climate change and deliver concrete greenhouse gas reductions,” he added.
FACTBOX
39 companies have joined RE100 since it was launched at Climate Week NYC in 2014. These are Alstria; Autodesk; Aviva; BT Group; Commerzbank; DSM; Elion Resources Group; Formula E; Givaudan; Goldman Sachs; H&M; IKEA Group; Infosys; Johnson & Johnson; J. Safra Sarasin; Kingspan; KPN; Land Securities; Marks & Spencer; Mars, Incorporated; Nestlé; Nike, Inc.; Philips; Procter & Gamble; Proximus; RELX Group; Salesforce; SAP; SGS; Starbucks; Steelcase; Swiss Re; UBS; Unilever; Vaisala; Voya Financial; Walmart and YOOX Group.
“Elopak began phasing in renewable electricity in our energy mix during 2014. Upon realising that it’s realistic for Elopak to source 100 % renewable power, we approached the Climate Group/RE100 to learn more about the campaign and decided to join the initiative.”
He said Elopak has been investing in energy efficiency at its plants for several decades, including installing energy management systems (EMS) and energy metering systems, to track energy consumption for individual machines and other equipment; installing free cooling, where outside winter temperatures are used to lower the temperature of cooling water, reducing the energy consumption of cooling machine and refrigerators.
And, reusing energy contained in heated air in its factory halls, for reheating office spaces.
“Elopak has been investing in energy efficiency at our plants for several decades and we are reaching a stage where a lot of the potential has already been tapped. Electricity consumption is the largest source of Elopak’s greenhouse gas emissions and by purchasing renewable power we are tackling the largest source of our emissions,” added Hall.