40% Renewable & 25% GHG Reduction

We have built a Global Energy Team to oversee our initiatives to reduce energy and emissions. This cross-functional team brings together our internal stakeholders who have a material connection to energy and energy reduction. This cross-functional team meets weekly to address and prioritize energy issues in a way that keeps energy stakeholders working collaboratively and towards achieving unified, global goals.

To make the most sustainable packaging material with an increasingly sustainable process, we have established a roadmap toward lower-carbon glass manufacturing. The first priority is creating efficiencies in our melting and refining processes, which make up almost 85% of our energy use. Examples of these processes include innovative reuse of furnace waste heat, use of gas-oxy furnaces, preheating of ingredients, and use of more efficient electrically powered equipment.

The gas-oxygen advancement technology (GOAT) process is a combination of several technologies that collectively make our most efficient melting process to date. We start with gas-oxygen (gas-oxy) burners, replacing air with oxygen, making high-quality waste heat, and virtually eliminating (70%) NOx (nitrogen oxide) emissions at their source. The GOAT approach also includes cullet pre-heating, saving up to one-fifth of the overall fuels required at this stage of processing. The energy needed to achieve melt in a GOAT furnace is lower by 30%, and consequently CO2 emissions are cut by 40%.

We have been progressively transitioning factories in North America to LED lighting with 15 plants either complete or underway. These projects save at least 50% energy over conventional lighting. The scale of the projects has an impact on CO₂ emissions over time equivalent to taking thousands of cars off the road each year. Of those we have installed, the average energy savings was 63%.

RECs are a way for O-I to meet our targets while supporting grid-connected renewable projects. We believe that by investing in renewable electricity we will not only lower carbon impacts but create resiliency in our systems to the stresses from climate events or other risks such as the availability of electricity. As of 2020, O-I has purchased renewable energy certificates covering 13% of our global electricity consumption and our target is to increase this to 23% as of 2021.

O-I has partnered with a number of companies that specialize in advanced burner technologies and invested in a number of technologies including low NOx burners, oxy-boost, auxiliary injection systems, and oxygen-enriched air staging. Other emissions abatement systems include: scrubbers, baghouses, electrostatic precipitators, and ceramic candle filters. O-I is actively investing in and deploying DeNOx systems in our facilities, targeting our glass furnaces as the major source of NOx emissions. In 2020, O-I saw a 12% decrease in air NOVs.