From: FoodBev

Tetra Pak now obtains half of its global electricity supply from renewable sources, with the company believing it is “firmly on course” to meet its commitment of using only renewable electricity across its operations by 2030.

The firm’s use of renewable electricity has increased more than twofold in the past two years, which has been achieved through the installation of solar panels at its facilities.

Tetra Pak’s factories in Sweden, Denmark, Finland and South Africa use electricity from 100% renewable sources and in total 17 of its major sites now run exclusively on renewable electricity.

Mario Abreu, vice president of sustainability at Tetra Pak, said: “Using renewable energy is an important part of our journey to reduce the carbon impact of our own operations and so help tackle climate change.

“Through the purchase of renewable energy certificates, we are investing in the development of infrastructure to increase the availability of renewable electricity. Meanwhile, we are also exploring opportunities to scale up our own on-site solar power installations.”

In 2015 Tetra Pak added its name to the Paris Pledge for Action at COP21 as it aims to reduce its environmental footprint.

Earlier this year the company revealed it had reduced the energy consumption of its separators by up to 40% by incorporating Encapt pressure management technology.

Tetra Pak product manager Ulrika Rehn said: “We want to help customers meet the challenge of achieving superior product quality with lower operational costs, and a lower environmental footprint.”