Theegarten-Pactec packaging systems gains milestone carbon neutral status

German-based packaging machinery group, Theegarten-Pactec, has marked a major milestone in having been declared a carbon neutral business, reports Neill Barston.

The move comes amid a growing trend for enterprises across sectors to enhance their environmental performance as part of a heightened global focus on delivering tangible sustainability progress

As the Dresden firm explained, it has been certified in an auditing process from fellow German business Fokus Zukunft, which stated that Theegarten had an approximate carbon footprint of 2,271.87 tons of CO2 equivalents per year, measured against key metrics of heat consumption, company fuel use, electric power, gas leaks, as well as upstream energy related emissions and waste.

The company’s CEO and president, Markus Rustler, recently spoke to Confectionery Production at Gulfood Manufacturing for an exclusive video interview, noting that it was making strong progress in a number of areas, including its preparations for this year’s Interpack, taking place in Dusseldorf this May.

According to the business, its sustainability actions were motivated by an acknowledgement that ‘climate change is the greatest challenge facing humanity since the end of the ice age’ prompting its positive action on the issue.

Explaining the first phase of the work, which included the initial assessment figures, the company said: “The success of emission reductions depends to a large extent on the voluntary and consistent action of industry in the industrialised countries. Theegarten Pactec has therefore decided to take responsibility for the world we leave to our children and grandchildren.

“We are aware of the responsibility as a company to future generations and have acted accordingly. For a reasonable calculation we took the years 2014 (before the new construction of the factory) and 2019 (before the Corona pandemic). Drawing up the emissions balance for the years 2020 or 2021 would have led to an incorrect result. Due to the Corona-related restrictions on our economic activities and reduced business travels, significantly less CO2 was emitted compared to a “normal” business year.

“The greenhouse gas balance sheet now available shows emissions that arise in direct connection with Theegarten-Pactec’s business activities and was prepared in accordance with the guidelines of the Greenhouse Gas Protocol Corporate Standard (GHG Protocol), which is accepted as a standard worldwide.”

Carbon measures
As the company noted, there were areas that it could do little to avoid its impact, such as essential business travel for equipment installation and site visits, which it intends to mitigate through designated offsetting measures.

This is primarily through purchasing a total of 4,550 climate protection certificates for 2023 and 2024. These reportedly support a wind energy project in Mauritania that has been approved by the Verified Carbon Standard, a hydropower project in Türkiye that has also been certified by the Verified Carbon Standard, a biomass project in Chile that has been certified by the Clean Development Mechanism and a wind energy project in Mexico that has also been certified by the Clean Development Mechanism.

As previously reported, Türkiye has become a location of particular importance to Theegarten-Pactec, after in confirmed last November that it had acquired a significant stake in the country’s chocolate wrapping machinery business, Makrev.

Moreover, the company noted that its greenhouse gas balance sheet offered a  transparent overview of the company’s greenhouse gas emissions, and formed a central element of its climate protection policy.

The business added that in the medium to long term, it would examine additional carbon saving possibilities in order to further reduce the compensation of emissions through certificates within the scope of climate neutrality.

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