Crown Holdings hits renewable energy milestone

Metal packaging manufacturer Crown Holdings is operating the entirety of its beverage can plants in North America on renewable energy.

Crown is the first metal packaging manufacturer to hit this milestone, achieved through its 15-year wind power virtual power-purchase agreement with Longroad Energy, the company said last week. The agreement covers 440,000MWh of electricity, preventing 310,000 metric tonnes of CO2 emissions each year.

This wind power use will help Crown achieve global targets of 60pc renewable electricity by 2030, 90pc by 2040 and 100pc by 2050. With renewable electricity purchases in the US, Canada and the UK, 27.5pc of the company's global operations are currently using renewable electricity.

Crown joined RE100 last year, an international coalition of businesses led by the Climate Group in partnership with global non-profit CDP. The coalition boasts 266 member companies that have committed to sourcing 100pc of their electricity from renewables by 2050 at the latest.

Crown did not reply to a request for comment.

Corporate commitment has "not waned" on climate change, International Emissions Trading Association president Dirk Forrister recently said. "There have been additional commitments from companies on their own net-zero pathways and accelerating those pathways, looking at ways to go beyond carbon neutral to carbon negative," he said.

Corporations have used a mix of renewable energy and carbon offset purchases to achieve their emission reduction goals.

With president-elect Joe Biden's victory, the US is now on the "front lines of climate action," Forrister said.

By Jessica Dell