How energy-efficient papermaking supports our customers’ sustainability goals

Paper-based packaging has a big role to play in the circular economy. Take Mondi’s corrugated packaging solutions – offering lightweight protection for the goods that our society relies on every day, while being made from recyclable materials.

But helping our customers make the most of more sustainable packaging solutions is only one piece of the puzzle. To truly contribute towards tackling the climate crisis, packaging must not only help to replace less sustainable materials but also be produced efficiently and responsibly.

That’s why we focus on cutting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions during the manufacturing process and minimising waste — helping both Mondi and our customers reduce environmental impacts.

How does Mondi reduce GHG emissions from paper and packaging?

Looking at the paper-based packaging value chain, most emissions occur when producing pulp and paper in mills. One of the ways through which we tackle this at Mondi is by using renewable energy sources – including black liquor, biofuels and biomass – which account for 78% of the total fuel consumption across our mills.

We aim to build on this by:

1. Investing in energy efficiency projects
2. Increasing the share of renewable fuels used for energy generation
3. Purchasing electricity generated from renewable sources

Since 2019, we have invested in and approved around €500 million in energy and efficiency projects across Mondi. This helps our pulp and paper mills to generate most of their energy needs on site, which has contributed to the reduction of our Scope 1 and 2 emissions in 2023 by 22%, compared to our 2019 baseline.

  Our considerable investment pipeline underpins our strong commitment to strategically invest in improving energy efficiency and support the transition to renewable energy across our sites and drive down our GHG emissions in line with our science-based Net-Zero targets.

- Lars Mallasch, Mondi Group Technical and Sustainability Director  

Going forward, our near and long-term Net-Zero GHG targets are approved by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTI). They cover GHG emissions from our operations and supply chain across Scope 1, 2 and 3 and are consistent with a reduction required to keep global warming to 1.5°C.

Mondi’s near and long-term Net-Zero GHG targets are approved by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTI).

What does this look like in action?

Let’s look at our mill in Świecie, Poland. Over the past 20 years, we’ve made substantial investments here, turning it into one of the country's largest producers of electricity and heat from renewable sources.

Between 2019 and 2024 alone, we’ve made 19 strategic upgrades to boost energy efficiency and cut our energy use. These upgrades include new, fuel-efficient backup boilers that produce the steam needed to power our pulp and paper production when our larger biomass and recovery boilers are not in use.

And we’re not stopping there. We’re constantly looking for new ways to improve energy efficiency at Świecie, from installing better lighting to insulating our steam pipelines.

Our biggest project right now is focused on upgrading the soot blowers in one of our recovery boilers. These blast steam through the boiler to prevent ash building up as a residue of the fuel burning process, which, left unchecked, would reduce efficiency. By adding new sensors and a smart control system, we’re set to cut energy use by an additional 89,000 MWh annually.

The Mondi Containerboard mill in Świecie, Poland.

What does this mean for our customers?

As one of our customers, you can rely on Mondi to package your products in more sustainable materials, while reducing exposure to GHG emissions in the supply chain and tackling your Scope 3 emissions.

We would love to hear from you  and discuss how we can help with your own sustainability journey.