EUR 60 million of the EUR 65 million investment project is conditional on achieving the industrial performance objectives set out in the GCP. It will be used to rebuild the site’s three furnaces, which will be equipped with the latest glass melting technologies and improve working conditions for employees while enhancing their safety.
The additional EUR 5 million will be used this year to increase the site’s production capacity and make it more competitive and responsive to new market growth opportunities. This investment will also reinforce the program to lighten the weight of certain bottles, in response to growing demand from customers who want to reduce their environmental footprint. This concern is fully in line with Verallia France’s intention to fulfil the ambitious environmental commitments made at the Group level. The Group targets a 46 percent reduction in its CO2 emissions (scopes 1 and 2) by 2030 to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius and reach carbon neutrality by 2050.
The Chalon sur Saône plant is the largest of the group’s 32 plants, both in size and production capacity. It can produce 1 billion bottles per year.
These new investments are part of a strategy to modernize the group’s production capabilities with a view to long-term growth, particularly in France, the historical birthplace of Verallia. They follow the announcement at the end of 2021 of the project to build two new 100 percent electric furnaces at the Cognac site, already an illustration of Verallia France’s desire to ensure the sustainability of its sites and to innovate so that its customers and employees can benefit from state-of-the-art technology.
“The industrial development of our plants is at the heart of our strategy,” said Olivier Rousseau, President of Verallia France. “This EUR 65 million investment project is perfectly in line with the Group’s industrial modernization strategy and demonstrates our determination to meet our commitments under the Growth and Competitiveness Pact signed last May. Our ambition is to make the Chalon plant a competitive, flexible and reliable facility to best serve our customers in flint and dead leaf coloured glass, characteristic of Burgundy wine bottles, while ensuring safety and better working conditions for our employees.”