Crown achieves renewable energy milestone for US and Canada beverage can plants

Crown has announced that it is now operating all 14 of its beverage can plants in the US and Canada on renewable energy.

The milestone – which Crown claims it is the first metal packaging manufacturer to achieve – is the result of a 15-year virtual power purchase agreement (VPPA) with Longroad Energy.

Relying on a Texas-based wind farm, the VPPA reportedly generates more than 440,000 MWh of electricity, helping prevent over 310,000 metric tons of carbon emissions each year.

According to Crown, the renewable power offsets 100% of the energy usage of its US and Canadian beverage plants. Crown has similar measures in place in the UK and claims that with the US and Canada VPPA in effect, 27.5% of its global operations are now using renewable electricity.

The company has established a goal of employing 60% renewable electricity by 2030, 90% by 2040 and 100% by 2050 as part of its Twentyby30 programme, launched earlier this year.

“This VPPA, which makes us the first in our industry to complete an energy transition for all US and Canadian beverage can manufacturing facilities, is a major milestone on our journey to utilise 100% renewable electricity by 2050 and will play a critical role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions from our operations,” said John Rost, vice president, global sustainability and regulatory affairs at Crown.

“Making a pledge to the RE100 initiative, setting science-based emission reduction targets and now implementing wind power across our US and Canadian beverage plants — these are all actions we view as critical for driving measurable progress against climate change for our planet.”