Two years into its five-year initiative to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, Crown Holdings, Yardley, Pa., USA, a supplier of packaging products worldwide, has exceeded one of its two targeted 2020 sustainability goals.

In 2016, the company announced its plan to reduce energy consumption by 5% per billion standard units of production from 2015 levels by the end of 2020. As of Dec. 31, 2017, Crown surpassed this goal, reducing energy consumption by 5.1% per billion standard units. Absolute energy consumption has increased by only 1.6% while the company increased production by more than 7.1%.

The company has also made substantial progress toward its goal of reducing Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions by 10% per billion standard units of production from 2015 levels. As of Dec. 31, 2017, Crown has achieved more than three-quarters of this objective after reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 7.6% per billion standard units. Absolute emissions have decreased by 1.1%, even as production has increased by 7.1%.

The goals, which were included as part of the company's submission to the CDP's (formerly Carbon Disclosure Project) climate change program in 2017, reflect Crown's commitment to efficiently manage and conserve resources and bring innovations to market that support the sustainability efforts of its customers and consumers.

"We are proud of the results we have achieved in the first two years of our five-year journey," said John Rost, director of global sustainability at Crown. "Reducing our energy consumption and emissions while expanding our manufacturing footprint and output demonstrates our commitment to sustainability. Our success can be attributed to a variety of projects, including introducing renewable energy into some facilities, but the biggest impact has come from the contributions of our global workforce that is fully committed to our sustainability program."

More about Crown's sustainability achievements is available online.