Company case study: Ball Corporation

Ball Corporation (or Ball Corp) is a holding in our Global Sustain Paris Aligned strategy. The company produces innovative sustainable metal packaging for the beverage, personal care and household product industries, and is the world’s leading global producer of aluminium beverage cans. We believe that the company’s focus on recycling and decarbonisation aligns it with the goals of the Paris Agreement on climate change.

Aluminium: infinitely recyclable

Metals such as aluminium can be recycled infinitely, and almost 75% of all aluminium ever produced is still in circulation today. Aluminium beverage cans are currently the world’s most recycled packaging product, with 69% of cans currently recycled globally. Impressively, recycled aluminium cans can be back on a shop shelf within just 60 days of collection¹.

“Impressively, recycled aluminium cans can be back on a shop shelf within just 60 days of collection.”
 

On the other hand, plastic bottles can only be recycled a few times before being sent to landfill. In fact, while the efficiency of the aluminium recycling process is 90%, this drops to 67% for glass and 66% for polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic bottles². Therefore, by facilitating the use of metal packaging over plastic or glass, Ball Corp is helping to reduce waste in landfill, and use less virgin natural resources.

Achieving 85% recycled content by 2030

Ball Corp has a strong focus on recycling. The company has set a target to achieve 85% recycled content in its aluminium cans, cups and bottles in the regions where it operates by 2030. Recycling aluminium takes 95% less energy than creating it from scratch, so increasing the recycled content of its cans not only diverts waste from landfill, but also helps to reduce energy-related emissions. 

“As Ball Corp’s own emissions fall, its customers will experience an equivalent reduction in their upstream Scope 3 emissions.”
 

Increasing the recycled content of its products will help Ball Corp to reduce its own emissions (see below), but also benefits customers. Ball Corp’s customers include large beverage companies, such as Coca Cola and PepsiCo, many of which have set their own decarbonisation targets. Indeed, both of the aforementioned have published targets to reach net zero by 2040.

As Ball Corp’s emissions fall, these companies will experience an equivalent reduction in their upstream Scope 3 emissions (those related to a business’s activities, which stem from sources outside its control). This is why we consider Ball Corp to be a climate solutions provider. 

Ambitious plans to cut emissions

As well as helping its customers to decarbonise, Ball Corp has set ambitious targets to reduce its own emissions. In 2019, the company set a science-based target to reduce Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 55% by the year 2030, versus a 2017 baseline. This target is considered to be in line with a 1.5°C temperature pathway. Ball Corp aims to achieve this target by improving the energy efficiency of its manufacturing processes, and switching to renewable energy. For the latter, it also aims to achieve 100% renewable electricity globally, with an interim target of 75% by 2025.

The company also aims to reduce Scope 3 emissions by 16% by 2030. It aims to do this by collaborating with ‘upstream’ partners to reduce emissions from the products and services it purchases, and by improving the way its products are collected, sorted and recycled ‘downstream’.

Positive intentionality

We believe that Ball Corp demonstrates good intentionality regarding decarbonisation. This is important, because it means the company should be less likely to waver in its alignment to the aims of the Paris Agreement. 

References to decarbonisation and sustainability are found throughout the company’s website homepage and in the introduction to its combined annual and sustainability report. Ball Corp’s CEO and Chief Commercial and Sustainability Officer are also remunerated annually on progress towards Ball Corp’s emission reduction targets. Furthermore, the company’s plant managers also see their performance appraisals and remuneration linked to six sustainability metrics, including energy efficiency. 

¹ Ball Corporation, ‘Real circularity’, (ball.com), October 2024.
² International Aluminium, ‘A Circularity Case For Aluminium Compared With Glass And Plastic’, (international-aluminium.org), October 2024.

Source: M&G research, and Ball Corporation 2023 Combined Annual and Sustainability Report, (ball.com), June 2024. 

The information provided should not be considered a recommendation to purchase or sell any particular security.

The value of the fund's assets will go down as well as up. This will cause the value of your investment to fall as well as rise and you may get back less than you originally invested.