What distinguishes Ardagh when it comes to climate work?
Peter:
What sets Ardagh apart is that we’re focused on making real, impactful progress backed up by technology that works commercially at scale.
A good example is our NextGen Furnace, located at our Obernkirchen facility in Germany, and supplying brands which are exported globally. It’s already delivering a 64 percent reduction* in carbon emissions per bottle, which is an impactful step forward for an energy-intensive process like glassmaking. We’re also working on projects such as hydrogen produced with renewable electricity at our Limmared facility in Sweden, where we’ve shown it can replace up to 18 percent of natural gas in the furnace, cutting emissions by up to 14 percent**.
Alongside that, we’re transitioning to renewable electricity across our European operations, with a goal of reaching 100 percent by 2030. Overall, it’s about combining breakthrough innovation with steady improvements across everything we do.
Why have you chosen to work with Systembolaget and CarbonCloud?
Peter:
For people to make decisions based on data, it needs to be credible and comparable.
Working with Systembolaget and CarbonCloud, in cooperation with the Swedish Brewery Association, means we can be confident that the carbon data is consistent, reliable and independently verified. Collaboration like this helps create a level playing field and moves the whole industry forward.
What does this work mean for your customers?
Peter:
It gives customers much better visibility of the impact of their packaging choices. Carbon data is a useful metric, and it’s great to see up-to-date information being shared more openly across the value chain.
That said, carbon is only one part of the picture. Glass also brings other important benefits like being endlessly recyclable in a closed loop, without losing quality, which fits Europe’s ambition for a circular economy and avoids ocean pollution. It also plays a key role in protecting the product itself.
So really, this work helps customers take a more balanced view, helping them to look at carbon alongside things like circularity and product protection, when they’re making decisions about their packaging.
What is your vision for the future of packaging?
Peter:
We see a future where packaging is both lower carbon and fully circular for greater environmental performance, and where there’s no compromise on quality to achieve that.
For glass, that means continuing to reduce emissions through reduced-carbon technologies and using renewable energy, while strengthening recycling systems so more material stays in the loop.
At the same time, packaging still has a critical job to do in protecting products and supporting consumer wellbeing. So it’s about getting that balance right - lower climate impact but maintaining high performance.
Ultimately, none of this happens in isolation. It’s going to take collaboration across the whole value chain to get there.
*LCA calculation Jan-June 2024
** The 14% CO2 reduction is modelled using the following data, based on LCA parameters:
Carbon emissions reduction calculation from a glass bottle produced in the Limmared 12 furnace in Sweden, using green hydrogen, compared to one produced in the Limmared 12 furnace in Sweden, using natural gas. The data used is based on six weeks of stable production from the electrolyser following a phased ramp up.
Furnace pull is 300 tonnes per day, producing flint-coloured glass. Each bottle size is 70cl and weighs 504g. Batch composition: sand, soda ash, dolomite and limestone plus 63.2% recycled glass cullet. 18% natural gas replaced by green hydrogen delivers 14% reduced carbon emissions in each bottle. Production location and recycling is Sweden. Scope of the study is cradle-to-gate. The data used is based on six weeks of stable production from the electrolyser following a phased ramp up.