Planet – Production and environment

Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions

At ALPLA we understand that our operations contribute to the overall carbon equation. Therefore, we regularly quantify the carbon footprint associated with our plastic packaging and recycling production. CO2e is used as a metric: in addition to carbon dioxide, this covers other greenhouse gases which are converted into volumes of carbon dioxide based on their climate impacts.
 

Our emissions assessment allows for a comprehensive understanding of our carbon impact, by including direct emissions from owned or controlled sources (Scope 1), indirect emissions from purchased electricity (Scope 2) as well as other indirect emissions from activities related to our value chain (Scope 3).
 

Miklos Toth
Senior Sustainability Manager

 

‘Embarking on the decarbonisation journey can only be done with solid foundations – our comprehensive GHG inventory ensures we have a clear understanding of our baseline emissions, allowing us to gradually decrease our global carbon footprint.’

We have adopted an operational control approach for calculating our GHG emissions. This enables us to account for emissions stemming directly from activities over which we have operational control, thereby providing a comprehensive representation of our carbon footprint.
 

Our emission calculations are guided by the methodologies outlined in the Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHGP), an internationally recognised standard for measuring and reporting GHG emissions. Adhering to the GHGP ensures that our reporting is consistent, comparable and credible, allowing stakeholders to accurately assess our progress in reducing emissions.

Scope 1 GHG emissions

GRI 305-1
Direct (Scope 1) GHG emissions
GRI 305-1
Direct (Scope 1) GHG emissions

In 2022, our gross Scope 1 GHG emissions increased by around 6% compared to 2021. This can be linked to an increase in refrigerant leakages and slightly higher gas consumption for heating. For the fuel consumption related to company cars, we assume a steady value (based on estimations regarding the ALPLA-owned company cars in 2022); this will be recorded yearly from 2023 on. GHG emissions related to refrigerants also include estimations, as we have actual figures for approximately 75% of our equipment only.

 

Scope 2 GHG emissions

GRI 305-2
Indirect (Scope 2) GHG emissions
GRI 305-2
Indirect (Scope 2) GHG emissions

Despite our overall business growth, our market-based gross Scope 2 GHG emissions remained flat in the reporting period due to our increase in the usage of renewable energy as well as global efforts to increase energy efficiency.

GHG emissions intensity at ALPLA dropped from 176 tCO2e/mEUR to 137 tCO2e/mEUR year-on-year, primarily due to stagnating GHG emissions in spite of our increased annual revenue.

 

Scope 3 GHG emissions

After having mapped our value chain, we initiated a screening of all the 15 categories of Scope 3 GHG emissions as per the GHGP and in line with the requirements of the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) to understand which activities are relevant to our business. During the screening, we took into consideration all the criteria listed by the GHGP when identifying relevant Scope 3 activities, including the potential significance of the categories, whether we can influence the reduction of the emissions, whether they have significant associated risks or are otherwise deemed critical by our key stakeholders. In the case of categories where we had no primary data, we used the Scope 3 evaluator tool from Quantis, recommended by the GHGP, to enable a decision on the relevance and materiality of the respective Scope 3 category.

The list below summarises the conclusion of the screening, with justifications of omissions where necessary. We set 5% as the threshold for materiality. 

GRI 305-4
GHG emissions intensity
GRI 305-3
Other indirect (Scope 3) GHG emissions
GRI 305-5
Reduction of GHG emissions
GRI 305-4
GHG emissions intensity
GRI 305-3
Other indirect (Scope 3) GHG emissions
GRI 305-5
Reduction of GHG emissions

Conclusion on relevance: GHG emissions related to the raw materials purchased account for the majority (66.3%) of our Scope 3 emissions
Justification of (partial) omission: Emissions from goods and services other than raw materials (i.e. colouring and additives, secondary packaging, indirect procurement) are difficult to calculate and are not expected to contribute significantly to the total Scope 3 emissions, hence these are not disclosed due to limited data availability and immateriality

Conclusion on relevance: Not material as per our initial screening (4.2% share of total Scope 3 emissions)
Justification of (partial) omission: Not material

Conclusion on relevance: Included in our calculation as its share is above the set threshold (5.6% share of total Scope 3 emissions)
Justification of (partial) omission: Only electricity was accounted for due to the marginal contribution of oil and natural gas

Conclusion on relevance: While we continuously track the emissions related to the transportation of our products to our customers, we only have an estimation of the GHG emissions associated with the transportation of raw materials purchased (14.0% share of total Scope 3 emissions)
Justification of (partial) omission: Transportation and distribution emissions from goods and services other than raw materials were not included in the calculation

Conclusion on relevance: Not material as per our initial screening (0.1% share of the total Scope 3 emissions)
Justification of (partial) omission: Not material

Conclusion on relevance: Not material as per our initial screening (1.3% share of the total Scope 3 emissions)
Justification of (partial) omission: Not material

Conclusion on relevance: Not material as per our initial screening (0.4% share of the total Scope 3 emissions)
Justification of (partial) omission: Not material

Conclusion on relevance: Not material as per our initial screening (0.05% share of the total Scope 3 emissions)
Justification of (partial) omission: Not material

Conclusion on relevance: Not applicable; emissions from outbound transportation accounted for in Category 4
Justification of (partial) omission: Not applicable

Conclusion on relevance: Included in our calculation as the GHG emissions associated with the further processing (blowing) of our sold preforms is material (6.2% share of total Scope 3 emissions)
Justification of (partial) omission: -

Conclusion on relevance: Not relevant for our business
Justification of (partial) omission: Not applicable

Conclusion on relevance: Not material as per our initial screening (2.0% share of the total Scope 3 emissions)
Justification of (partial) omission: Not material

Conclusion on relevance: Not applicable to our business
Justification of (partial) omission: Not applicable

Conclusion on relevance: Not applicable to our business
Justification of (partial) omission: Not applicable

Conclusion on relevance: Not applicable to our business
Justification of (partial) omission: Not applicable

Based on available data, we used the following approaches to calculate our Scope 3 GHG emissions for our material activities:

  • For our purchased raw materials, we used the average-data method, calculating our emissions based on data available on the quantity of the different raw materials purchased. Raw materials sourced internally (rPET and rHDPE from our recycling plants) as well as PET and rPET volumes under the ‘hard tolling’ scheme (where customers purchase and transport the raw materials we process) were excluded, while the input materials of our recycling plants (PET and HDPE bales) were included in the calculation.

  • We also used the average-data method for our fuel- and energy-related activities, focusing on the upstream GHG emissions of our purchased electricity (as the predominant energy source) only.

  • For upstream transportation, we used the distance-based method, calculating emissions based on distance and mode of transport used. We have granular data on the transportation of our products to our customers, while we have only estimations on the distances the raw materials were transported to our plants.

  • Finally, for the processing of sold products (preforms that are blown and then filled by customers), we used the average-data method. We assume our customers use electricity for their processes, and due to lack of data on their respective energy mixes, we use country-specific (location-based) emission factors when calculating GHG emissions.

The four material categories account for more than 90% of our total Scope 3 GHG emissions. Overall, we managed to decrease our Scope 3 GHG emissions 3.5% year-on-year. This is in line with our decarbonisation ambitions: we committed to the SBTi in June 2022, with the goal of setting science-based targets (SBTs) in the upcoming 24 months. We plan to set our near-term targets in 2023 both for Scope 2 and Scope 3.