TACKLING THE CARBON EMISSION CHALLENGE
Gerald Rebitzer, sustainability director at Amcor, explores how the climate crisis and the pressing need for carbon reduction should take a front seat in FMCG packaging sustainability strategies.
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recent years, we have seen a strong industry focus on circularity and packaging waste, which has somewhat eclipsed the climate crisis. Despite repeated political declarations, there was a gap between the cited goals and reality. But carbon is again moving to the forefront of the debate. The European Commission set the goal to be carbon neutral by 2050, and even China announced that it would cut its net carbon emissions to zero within 40 years.
Short-term investment, long-term gains The EU’s announcement of the New Green Deal had a positive impact, as it started competition in the positive sense. Addressing the climate crisis requires some short-term infrastructure investment. But investment in carbon reduction
can give companies a competitive edge in the long term, similar to what happened with Tesla’s electric cars. They didn’t make a profit for a long time, but now the technology is really catching on and other manufacturers have to play catch-up. There is a growing realization that we need to act now on the climate crisis, and I expect this to balance out the discussions about ‘good’ or ‘bad’ packaging materials. The real key is to improve packaging efficiency. Functionality is important. If weight can be reduced while maintaining functionality, that is even better; weight is even more important than what type of material the packaging is made from. Bearing in mind that one-third of food produced is wasted, it becomes clear what savings could be made in that area. Reducing food waste is crucial. Packaging should be part of a solution, Packaging Europe | 45 |
