Beverages and their packaging are the largest source of emissions – Alko’s climate impact study 2023

Beverages and international transport generates the most significant emissions

The production of beverages accounts for the largest share of the carbon footprint, 40% (66 454 tCO₂e). The next highest emissions are generated by international transport (34%, 62 326 tCO₂e). The manufacturing of product packaging constitutes 18% and other expenses 4% of Alko's total carbon footprint.

Breakdown of Alko’s organisational carbon footprint in accordance with GHG Protocol Scope emissions.

The climate impact study and its calculation model were implemented in accordance with the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) protocol’s Corporate Accounting and Reporting standard, the Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) standard and supplementary guidelines.

GHG Protocol Scope 1 emissions, 59 tCO₂e, formed under 0,1% of the total carbon footprint. Scope 2 emissions totalled 987 tCO₂e, or 0,6% of the carbon footprint. Of the Scope 2 emissions, 398 tCO₂e were caused by electricity consumption and 590 tCO₂e by district heating consumption.

Scope 3 emissions accounts for the majority of total emissions, over 99% (164,495 tCO₂e).

The largest share of emissions was generated by the production of beverages and beverage packages. In the case of beverages, the largest emissions come from red and white wine, as their sales volumes are the largest.

In beverage packaging, the largest emissions come from glass packaging. Manufacturing of glass packaging requires temperatures up to 1600 celcius degrees. Glass packaging form over 75% of Alko’s beverage packaging emissions.

Roadmap guides Alko’s climate work

Alko’s first climate study covered the year 2020. At that time, Alko’s total emissions amounted to 183,910 tCO2e. Together with the other Nordic alcohol monopolies, Alko is committed to halving the emissions from its operations by 2030 from the 2020 baseline. Read more about the alcohol monopoly roadmap here. 

*The calculations for 2022 were expanded to include new categories. Calculated in line with the 2020 boundaries, the figure for 2022 would have been 169,042 tCO2, with an emissions intensity of 2,105 tCO2/million litres.

Background information on the study

Calculation model and limitations

The climate impact study and its calculation model were implemented in accordance with the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) protocol’s Corporate Accounting and Reporting standard, the Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) standard and supplementary guidelines. Scope 1 and Scope 2 have been accounted for in the calculations in their entirety; in addition, Scope 3 categories relevant to Alko have been taken into consideration. The materiality assessment of emissions sources was originally carried out in 2020; in addition, the calculation boundary for 2022 was expanded by including Scope 1. Calculations of Scope 3 categories 1 and 2 were expanded. In addition, Scope 3 category 9 was calculated separately. Scope 3 emissions categories were accounted for on the basis of materiality. The commonly used criteria for materiality are:

• Emissions are high relative to Scope 1 and 2 emissions

• Emissions increase the climate risks of the organisation

• The emissions sources are of interest to stakeholders 

• The emissions have potential for reductions that can be influenced by the organisation

The definition of boundaries was based on the GHG Protocol operational control approach.

The climate impact study covers Alko’s own operations and the lifecycle of alcohol products, with the exception of purchase and use by consumers. Any product-specific gift boxes were excluded from the calculations. In the case of transport packaging, flexi-bags used in bulk transport have not been taken into account because product-specific information is not available.

Data sources

The initial data for the calculations was collected from Alko’s databases and written sources. If no initial data was available for the calculations, Gaia’s expert assessments, validated in cooperation with Alko, were used as the initial data.

An extensive literature search for emissions multipliers of beverages and packaging was carried out. The multipliers were selected based on the reliability of the source literature and with the intent of not underestimating emissions.