(Credit: Evian)
Today, Evian is announcing global certification for becoming carbon neutral. After announcing the ambition in 2015 at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 21) in Paris, Evian previously achieved carbon neutrality in the US, Canada, Germany, Switzerland, and its bottling site. Today marks a key milestone for the brand as it receives carbon neutral certification across all the countries where the brand has a presence. The global certification follows years of reductions made at every stage of the product life cycle from conception to production to recycling.
The certification to the internationally recognized carbon neutral standard PAS 2060 has been issued by the Carbon Trust. It has been achieved through carbon emissions reductions in three key areas:
- Conception: Evian’s packaging continues to become more sustainable from the beginning to end of its life cycle. This includes:
- Light-weighting: Evian has changed the design of its packaging so that the end product is much lighter in weight. This has a significant impact on its carbon emissions. For example, the light weighting of the evian’s leading 1.5L format has led to a 17% reduction in the bottle’s carbon footprint between 1993-2018.
- Use of recycled plastic (rPET): This can save up to 50% of carbon emissions versus a virgin bottle. To reduce its carbon emissions, evian has therefore ramped up its rPET rate over the last 10 years. Globally, 30% of its range is now made from rPET, while some bottles are now made from 100% rPET. Later this year, the brand will launch a new range of “bottles made from bottles” using 100% recycled plastic.
- Production: Evian has worked hard to reduce both waste and energy consumption
- Renewable energy use at the bottling site: evian achieved carbon neutrality at the bottling site in 2017, the first Danone production facility and largest food production site in France to do so. This was primarily the result of both a $280 million investment into upgrading the bottling facility, in addition to the fact that it is 100% powered by renewable energy. Between 2015 and 2019, there has been a 90% reduction in the carbon footprint at the bottling site
- Distribution: There has been a significant change in transportation models. Approximately 50% of evian’s volumes are shipped directly by train from the plant. To deliver to the UK, for example, the train carbon footprint is now seven times lower than trucks.
Evian’s recycling goals were on display just last summer. Evian piloted water bottles made from 100% recycled rPET at the Wimbledon tennis tournament in July 2019. In 2018, the brand used 25% rPET in bottles for the famed event.
During the two-week tennis event, approximately 420,000 bottles get used. Last year’s pilot scheme was the first time that Evian trialed the use of this type of bottle on a large scale anywhere in the world.