A strategic collaboration between Amcor and Dow will combine packaging development, low-carbon polyethylene and product carbon-footprint data to help brands address Scope 3 emissions.
The partnership brings together Amcor’s packaging development, manufacturing capabilities and global reach with Dow’s low-carbon polyethylene, materials science and carbon-accounting expertise.
The companies will identify packaging applications that are technically and commercially viable, involve other value-chain partners early in the adoption process and provide customers with carbon-footprint information.
They say the approach could allow brands to introduce polyethylene packaging with a lower product carbon footprint while maintaining existing performance, quality and functionality requirements.
Dow Packaging & Specialty Plastics business president Keith Cleason said the collaboration would test a new commercial model intended to reduce adoption risk and create stronger demand signals across the value chain.
Cleason identified the gap between consumer interest and commercial commitment as one of the principal barriers to packaging decarbonisation. The companies aim to make it easier for brands and retailers to evaluate lower-carbon materials and move them into commercial applications.
Amcor chief sustainability officer David Clark said Scope 3 emissions could be difficult to address because they occurred across upstream and downstream operations.
He described the proposed polyethylene as “a drop-in solution for brands”, which could allow customers to reduce the carbon footprint attributed to packaging without significant pack redesigns or investment in new converting infrastructure.
Central to the collaboration is Dow’s Carbon Footprint Ledger methodology. Based on mass-balance precedents used in greenhouse gas accounting, the system provides product carbon-footprint certificates for materials produced through lower-emissions manufacturing pathways.
Dow says the methodology is aligned with ISO 14067 and the Greenhouse Gas Protocol Product Standard and is subject to independent assurance. Amcor will combine this carbon-footprint information with its packaging design and manufacturing capabilities to support customers comparing material options.
The collaboration is positioned as a response to demand from companies seeking measurable reductions in indirect value-chain emissions, which can account for a substantial share of a brand owner’s overall footprint.
Amcor and Dow have not disclosed the first packaging formats or markets to be targeted, participating customers, comparative emissions-reduction figures or a timetable for commercial implementation.
