DS Smith targets 40% carbon emissions reduction by 2030, net-zero by 2050
10 Jun 2021 --- DS Smith is announcing new environmental sustainability goals to reduce its carbon footprint. The fiber-based e-commerce specialist aims to reduce CO2 emissions by 40 percent per ton of product by 2030, compared to 2019 levels.
Moreover, it is committing to reaching net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, with net-zero referring to the balance between the amount of greenhouse gas produced and removed from the atmosphere.
”In the instance of unavoidable emissions at the end of our journey, we will be using carbon offsetting as a last resort to ensure we can commit to reaching net zero by 2050,” Wouter van Tol, head of sustainability and government affairs at DS Smith, tells PackagingInsights.
”However, we aim to meet the vast majority of our targets through several projects and reductions across DS Smith,” they affirm. Notably, DS Smith highlights heavy manufacturing is “one of the hardest sectors to decarbonize.”
The new 40 percent CO2 target is an extension of DS Smith’s 2017 goal, which initially aimed for a 30 percent reduction by 2030 against a 2015 baseline. By the end of last year, however, the company had already achieved a 23 percent reduction.
These targets will be validated by the Science Based Targets initiative to align them with the UN Paris Agreement goals.
Making strategic changes
DS Smith is taking a multidisciplinary approach to its decarbonization goals. The company has invested in waste-to-energy solutions and combined heat and power facilities to save CO2 emissions across the board.
For example, powering steam generation at Kemsley paper mill in the UK by the neighboring Wheelabrator waste-to-energy facility removes approximately 8,000 tons of carbon per year.
The company also implements new supply chain technology, such as ParceLive, to accurately track vehicle movement and measure CO2 emissions.
DS Smith affirms the solutions to decarbonize heat are “not straightforward,” but looks to local biomass and biogas, and renewable wind and solar electricity as alternatives. Low carbon packaging designs
A small change to package design can create huge cost benefits for e-retailers, says van Tol, resulting in a knock-on effect across the supply chain, cutting carbon footprint and reducing delivery miles.
“As e-commerce booms, so does the need to get goods to consumers. Decarbonizing the packaging is important too. With most of the environmental impact of a package being decided at the design phase, brands need to ensure they are designing out waste and pollution from the outset.”
They list optimizing recyclability and reusability, considering material use, replacing “problem plastic” with more eco-friendly alternatives as some circular designs.
“Striking the balance between cutting down excess packaging and protecting products in transit is paramount,” adds van Tol.
“By making the switch away from heavy-weight cardboard packs to lighter alternatives, the packaging volume and weight can be reduced, and so can carbon emissions as a result.”
DS Smith affirms maintaining ISO 50001 certification at all its in-scope sites helps drive energy efficiency.Renewable energy considerations
Improving energy usage specifically is central to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Within this ambition, DS Smith uses a biomass boiler that processes residual low-grade timber waste to generate energy for its packaging plant in Värnamo, Sweden.
The company also generates electrical power from Combined Heat and Power (CHP) plants at Blunham and Fordham packaging plants in the UK, harnessing the waste heat to fuel the process.
While DS Smith’s diesel has been replaced with LNG-powered vehicles for cross-continental transportation, it is also turning steam from its paper mill into heating for its offices, replacing fossil fuels and reducing carbon emissions by 50 tons of CO2 per annum.
“We look forward to exploring how our strategic partnership with DS Smith can help accelerate the company’s progress in parallel with its circular economy commitments,” comments Andrew Morlet, CEO of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, a strategic partner of DS Smith.
“The switch to renewable energy can only reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 55 percent, while the remaining 45 percent of emissions comes from how we make and use products.”
By 2023, DS Smith pledges to manufacture 100 percent recyclable or reusable packaging and take a billion pieces of “problem plastics” off supermarket shelves by 2025.
By Anni Schleicher
