For BA Glass, sustainability is a core concept and one that enters into all aspects of life and human need. Sustainability for us is about having a green mindset every time we design and produce a glass container. As a company, we have been following an eco-friendly path year after year by carrying out actions and initiatives that allow us to reduce our impact on the environment and safeguard future generations.
For us, sustainability begins in our products. Given its unique properties and composition of natural materials, glass is infinitely recyclable. When we choose food and beverages in glass packaging, we choose to protect the health, not only of individuals and society but also of our planet. At BA Glass, our sustainability strategy is based on six pillars: customers, consumers, shareholders, people, environment and society – which allow us to ensure economic and social development as well as to protect the environment.
We have been developing initiatives that will help us to take a step forward towards a more sustainable future
After an impressive recovery in demand for glass packaging following the COVID-19 outbreak, we are facing a very challenging moment due to an unprecedented increase in energy costs, which is affecting the energy-intensive industries. The incentive to decarbonise the industry was reinforced and, at BA, we continue to develop our carbon reduction roadmap with the aim to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.
We pursued our commitment to the Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi) that promotes CO2 reductions. As part of this initiative, we are committed to a 50 percent reduction in CO2 emissions per tonne of glass produced, by 2035. And in just one year, we were able to reduce these emissions by 15.9 percent (scope one and two of SBTi criteria).
At the Porto Protocol event, we have made public our commitment to respect and protect the environment, through many different goals, such as reducing the use of natural gas and increasing the use of energy from renewable sources. Therefore, we have been developing initiatives that will help us to take a step forward towards a more sustainable future. Following our plan, in 2021, we built a third photovoltaic park, which is on the roof of our Plovdiv plant. And we achieved a share of 86 percent of renewable energy in the total electricity we used in 2021.
The ambition to become carbon neutral requires a major technological disruption in the industry regarding melting technology. Our shareholders already allocated €14.8m to the development of technologies that aim to reduce the amount of CO2 generated and its capturing and reuse, through R&D projects.
The development of a hybrid furnace is one of the projects where we committed several resources with the aim to switch from natural gas to renewable energy. Preserving and respecting the environment is part of our business strategy and so our commitment to the environment goes further and further.
Through the Glass Seeds Project, BA continues to endeavour to hold educational projects for the youngest generations, promoting equal opportunities and meritocracy in the regions we have our plants. Based on four main pillars: foundations, work, future and planet, this project contributes to the development of leaders and citizens, as well as for a sustainable future.
A PURE focus on sustainability
And because we do not stop in our mission to green our industry, we have launched our own sustainable brand: PURE. More than just a glass packaging brand, PURE is about being immersed in nature. PURE is born from the unique mindset that brings innovation and sustainability together in one brand, where nature comes first in every stage of the process. With PURE, we produce food and beverage containers that are sustainable from conception to delivery. Therefore, incorporating recycled glass into our products is a main priority, allowing us to extract fewer resources from nature and reducing CO2 emissions. Furthermore, we are constantly challenging ourselves to actively reduce the weight of our containers and again, in 2021, we reached a new record of the number of lightweight containers launched in the market.
At BA Glass, sustainability goes beyond what we do today. For us, sustainability is a long-term commitment that challenges us to reduce our impact on the environment, ensuring the future of the next generation. Sustainability comes within the glass, always!
