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

The video features interviews with Tetra Pak’s Global Leadership Team members, 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) emissions, while 8% of total emissions are caused by food waste. 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 2050.

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:

• Maximizing 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 ‘50s allows for ambient distribution and storage without requiring energy-intensive refrigeration

• Driving an active agenda to develop sustainable recycling value chains

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

“We have already taken great strides on our journey to pioneer a sustainable future. However, with the current climate crisis and the potential food security challenges, we believe that the food packaging industry needs a major step-change in its evolution. Our ambition is to deliver the world’s most sustainable food package. This means creating cartons that are fully made from renewable or recycled materials, are fully recyclable and carbon neutral. We see this as the only way to protect what’s good – food, people, and the planet.”