Swedish-Swiss drink packaging giant Tetra Pak has developed a reporting framework to track its progress towards nature targets with UK-based consultancy Biodiversify.

Tetra Pak said its ‘Approach to Nature’ framework, released on Wednesday, aligned with the targets in the 2022 Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF).

The framework is structured around four pillars reflecting the company’s value chain – including upstream, downstream, and operations – encompassing 25 targets.

The biodiversity strategy aims to manage its impacts on nature and support the restoration of ecosystems, it said.

It also seeks to contribute to global water resilience by reducing negative impacts on local water resources, and addressing shared water challenges in basins at risk, identified following the Science-Based Targets Network (SBTN) methodology.

“To realise these ambitions, we have developed an approach rooted in measurable, quantitative targets and practical actions,” the company said.

Speaking to Carbon Pulse, the director of Biodiversify, Samuel Sinclair, said: “This work puts Tetra Pak firmly at the forefront of the nature positive movement by translating the complexity of corporate biodiversity sustainability into a practical strategy which coordinates a suite of actions across the company.”

MAIN TARGETS

On the supply side, the company said that by 2027, 100% of its high-impact suppliers will have assessed their material impacts on nature and implemented actions to reduce their negative impacts.

Suppliers are expected to reduce their impact following the mitigation hierarchy – avoidance, minimisation, restoration, and offsetting.

Moreover, Tetra Pak said that, by 2030, 80% of its high-impact suppliers will have reduced their negative impact drivers on nature, quantifying them through nature-related frameworks such as the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures or SBTN.

The company also aims to track 100% of the raw materials – paperboard, polymer, and aluminium – to the point of production by 2025.

On the downstream side, the recycling issue remains one of Tetra Pak’s main problems. Currently, the company’s recycling rates in Europe average 50% and about 25% globally, according to Reuters.

The document said the company aims to replace at least half of its non-renewable materials contained in the packages with renewable fibre-based materials by 2030, while it seeks to work with legislators to “create conditions that enable collection and recycling at scale and that contribute to increased market demand for recycled products”.

TRACKING PROGRESS

“With over half of the world’s GDP heavily reliant on nature, the stakes could not be higher,” said Gilles Tisserand, vice president for climate and biodiversity at Tetra Pak.

Corporate nature-related disclosures are becoming increasingly relevant in the global market, with a growing number of investors asking firms to carry out monitoring and reporting activities.

Under the GBF, large private companies and financial institutions are both required to assess and disclose their risks, dependencies, and impacts on biodiversity.

In 2022, Tetra Pak was among the signatories of the Business for Nature coalition’s COP15 business statement, urging governments to adopt the GBF target 15 and make assessment and disclosure on nature mandatory.

“Tetra Pak’s ‘Approach to Nature’ marks an important milestone, emphasising how the corporate world must step up to support the ambitious targets of the GBF,” said Eva Zabey, CEO at Business for Nature.

“We encourage all companies to set a nature strategy – a clear plan for how they will contribute towards a nature-positive future by 2030.”

By Giada Ferraglioni – giada@carbon-pulse.com

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