According to reports, soft drinks manufacturer Britvic is to switch packaging from steel to aluminium cans as part of an ambitious drive to reduce carbon emissions.

Its new targets include halving emissions from all its operations by 2025 and aims to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. Britvic added that its targets have been independently verified by the Science Based Target initiatives (SBTi).

Britvic has set itself the target of a 35% reduction in emissions across this extended value chain by 2025 and will measure all targets against its 2017 baseline.

To reach the 2025 science-based target, Britvic is making strategic and meaningful changes to operations, such as installing biomass boilers to power its manufacturing and switching packaging from steel to aluminium cans.

The business also moved to using 100% renewable grid-sourced electricity in every Britvic manufacturing site in Great Britain in 2018, following the green electricity transitions already completed for its manufacturing sites in Ireland and Brazil.

Clive Hooper, supply chain director for Britvic, said: “We recognise the escalating urgency and ambition required to tackle the issue of climate change and are committed to stepping up our role in addressing this. By setting a 1.5°C-aligned carbon reduction target, the most ambitious science-based target currently available, we are ensuring that we lead the way in driving significant emissions reductions across our full value chain.”