Atlantic Packaging announced its plan to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2046 had been approved by the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi) earlier this month.
Atlantic is the first North American packaging company to receive SBTi approval, the company said.
Among the elements of the plan are reducing Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions by 70 percent by 2030, using 2021 as a base year. Additionally, the company said it commits to having 55 percent of its suppliers having science-based targets by 2027 and will reduce 25 percent of its Scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions from purchased goods and services by 2030.
On a longer-term basis, the company said its goal is to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions across its value chain and to reduce Scope 1, 2, and 3 greenhouse gas emissions by 90 percent by 2046, the company’s 100th birthday.
“By taking drastic action to mitigate climate change, Atlantic is paving the way for the global supply chain to follow suit,” the company said in a statement. “Because Atlantic’s Scope 1 and 2 emissions represent our customers’ Scope 3 emissions, reducing and eventually eliminating our emissions will help our customers to reduce theirs. As such, Atlantic’s science-based targets directly benefit our customers in their own emissions reduction goals.”
The company said the Science-Based Targets initiative is a collaboration between the United National Global Compact, World Resources Institute (WRI), and the World Wide Fund for Nature to help the private sector take aggressive climate action. SBTi also helps companies determine how much and how quickly they need to reduce emissions through validated, data-driven commitments in line with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’s (UNFCCC) Paris Agreement of 2015.