Tetra Pak Named One of the Top 50 Sustainability and Climate Leaders

Tetra Pak has today been recognized as one of the world’s 50 Sustainability and Climate Leaders. The food processing and packaging solutions company has been acknowledged for its commitment to pioneer a sustainable future, with a documentary showcasing its journey.

The video features interviews with members of Tetra Pak’s Global Leadership Team, highlighting how the role of food sector in tackling climate change is becoming even more imperative. They explain why accelerating de-carbonization and collaborations is critical to lead the sustainability transformation of the food packaging industry – addressing complex and multi-faceted challenges such as global warming, circularity and biodiversity.

Food is a critical but often overlooked element of the climate issue. The global food system accounts for 26% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions1, while 8% of total emissions are caused by food waste2. In other words, if food waste were a country, it would be the world’s third largest producer of emissions.

Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the weaknesses of the world’s food system, which will only be further amplified by the expected growth of the worldwide population to 9.1 billion by 20503.

High-performance food packaging plays a critical role in feeding the world, but it must do so sustainably, so that food availability does not come at the cost of the planet. This lies behind Tetra Pak’s purpose: To commit to making food safe and available, everywhere, in a way that protects what’s good – protecting food, protecting people as well as protecting the planet. To minimize climate impact while helping to ensure food security for the future, the company takes a full life cycle view of its solutions, always working collaboratively.

This means:
• Maximising the use of renewable materials, and sourcing them responsibly in a way that protects biodiversity.
• Minimizing the carbon impact of its operations as well as the one created by its value chain, for instance by accelerating the switch to renewable energy and by stepping up investment to develop low carbon processing and packaging solutions.
• Enabling greater access to safe food while reducing food waste: the aseptic filling. technology, that Tetra Pak introduced to the food industry in the early 1950s, allows for ambient distribution and storage, without requiring energy intensive refrigeration .
• Driving an active agenda to develop sustainable recycling value chains.

“Our company was founded on the philosophy that a package should save more than it costs,” Adolfo Orive, president and CEO at Tetra Pak, said. “Sustainability has always been at the core of everything we do, as such it is also a fundamental building block of our 2030 strategy, so we are proud to receive industry recognition for our work to date.”

1. https://ourworldindata.org/food-ghg-emissions
2. UN FAO, Food wastage footprint & climate change
3. http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/35571/icode/