Crown Holdings notes lightweighting progress, water challenges in 2022 sustainability report

Metal can manufacturer Crown Holdings released its 2022 sustainability report last week, detailing progress toward 20 measurable sustainability goals that the company is aiming to complete by 2030.

Within Crown’s market areas like food and beverage and aerosol packaging, efforts involve lightweighting its products and increasing recycled content. Priority areas going forward include expanding the amount of energy it sources from renewable resources and lessening its water intensity.

Overall, Scope 3 emissions are 91% of its overall market-based emissions, Scope 1 are 5% and Scope 2 are 4%. Crown’s goals to reduce these categories have been validated by the Science Based Targets initiative.

By the numbers

1,178,837

Crown’s metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent in Scope 1 & 2 emissions in 2022, which it said was down 12% from its 2019 baseline and also 24% of the way toward its 2030 goal. Crown is targeting a 50% combined reduction in absolute Scope 1 (fuel) and Scope 2 (electricity) emissions.

11,525,103

Crown’s metric tons of CO2e in Scope 3 emissions recorded in 2022, which it said were up 25% from 2019. Crown is targeting a 16% reduction in absolute Scope 3 (supply chain) emissions by 2030.

6.44%

Crown’s global average reduction in its standard 12oz. or 330ml can weight. Another one of Crown’s 2030 goals is to reduce packaging material use by making aluminum and steel cans 10% lighter in weight; Crown says it’s 60% of the way there.

Recycled content

Crown is targeting a global recycled content average of 80% by 2030. Those efforts go beyond cans to its transit packaging — items like tier sheets, slip sheets, top frames and plastic strapping. Crown highlighted the example of plastic tier sheets at an Eden, North Carolina, facility with an average of nearly 19% recycled content that it says can be washed and reused up to 100 times before being recycled.

That North Carolina facility recycled 4.7 million pounds of tier sheets in 2022, a 71% year-over-year increase. Several of Crown’s transit packaging plants can also use materials generated through curbside recycling. The company said its Eden recycling plant emphasizes collecting HDPE to produce new flake used at another Crown manufacturing site.

Future priorities

Crown specifically called out electricity and water as its next “pressing priorities.”

Energy prices “saw unprecedented fluctuations” in 2022, Crown wrote. The company says it has a plan in place to achieve a level of 75% renewable electricity by 2030 and 100% by 2040; 34% of the total electricity it consumed in 2022 was from renewable resources. Crown plans to invest in improving its own facilities’ energy efficiency and plans to set a net-zero target with SBTi and publish a formal net-zero plan within the next two years, aligned with aluminum and steel sector initiatives.

An area with lower recorded progress thus far is water reduction. Crown reported that at the end of 2022 it was 17.5% of the way toward reducing water usage in its operations by 20% by the end of 2025.

“When we consider what it means to be a steward of water, we factor in our larger value chain and our communities,” the company states in the report. “It is important that we support our peers’ and customers’ water goals as well as be aware of how our operations affect our neighbors and environments.” Crown wrote that it is working to establish companywide water standards, among other efforts.

The company also published its first report through the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures in 2022, which highlighted risks to the company from factors such as extreme weather.