Ball Corporation, has announced its 2030 sustainability goals, focused on enhancing product stewardship and social impact to create value for stakeholders, together with a vision for how industry partners can collaborate to achieve a fully circular aluminium beverage packaging system. 

Ball’s new global sustainability goals, which will drive performance across the life cycle of its products, include a commitment to achieving net zero carbon emissions before 2050 and transitioning to 100% renewable electricity by 2030. The goals also include ensuring all aluminium is purchased from certified sustainable sources and converting 80% of Ball’s global beverage can volumes to its lightweight STARcan designs. 

Complementing the company’s longstanding ESG programmes, Ball is expanding its disclosure of existing D&I and social programmes with specific 2025 goals for every region and business. For example, Ball Beverage Packaging South America has committed to increasing the proportion of non-white employees in new hires from 31% to 47%, and Ball Beverage Packaging EMEA plans to increase representation of women in manufacturing roles by achieving a 25% recruitment rate of women for these positions. 

In addition to its sustainability goals, Ball also shared ‘Toward A Perfect Circle,’ an industry vision which sets out how, by working together, beverage brands, retailers, and aluminum beverage packaging manufacturers and their suppliers could make aluminum cans, bottles and cups – the world’s most recycled beverage containers –surpass a 90% recycling rate from today’s rate of 69% and increase the global average recycled content rate to as much as 85%. Today, recycled aluminum uses only 5% of the energy compared to using virgin material, and recycled cans have the potential to be back on the shelf in as little as 60 days. 

To achieve this vision, Ball will drive multi-stakeholder action that includes developing a low-carbon roadmap for the aluminium beverage packaging sector. The company will also advocate for investment in infrastructure and technology to support a more effective and efficient recycling system in the regions where it operates. Ball will work with partners to publish this multi-region recycling roadmap and carbon pathway plan within the next year.   

“As a world-leading manufacturer of aluminium beverage packaging, Ball has a responsibility to our stakeholders and the planet to improve the environmental performance, social impact and economic returns of our business and take a leading role in driving industry-wide solutions to the climate crisis,” said John A. Hayes, chairman and CEO of Ball. “Our customers are seeking low-carbon and truly circular packaging options as they work to fulfil net zero targets and meet growing consumer demand for sustainable products. Infinitely recyclable aluminium cans, cups and bottles are the solution. We look forward to further enhancing our products and developing an industry-wide circularity roadmap in collaboration with our partners.” 

Ball will be engaging with key stakeholders across the aluminum beverage packaging sector to develop and promote the best methods, policies and actions to achieve a fully circular aluminum beverage packaging system.  

“Ball is playing an important role leading the sector towards a better world. Surpassing a 90% recycling rate and 85% in recycled content will require teamwork across the sector and can have a phenomenal impact for our planet. We are also thrilled to see commitments Ball made in their sustainability goals which also support a path toward net zero carbon. All these objectives are deeply aligned with our vision and will have all of our support to become a reality.” – Felipe Baruque, vice president, Global Procurement & Sustainability Packaging, Anheuser-Bush InBev.