Pursuing a long-standing commitment to climate action, Verescence had already committed in 2020 to the R&D project VERCANE (carbon-neutral glass), supported by ADEME (the French Agency for Ecological Transition), aimed at identifying the different energy sources capable of powering glass production in a sustainable way, including electricity.
The progressive electrification of its seven melting furnaces in France, Spain, the United States and South Korea is a key step towards achieving Verescence’s objective of reducing its CO2 emissions by 40 percent by 2034 (scopes 1 and 2).
The project will start during the reconstruction of furnace 1 of the Mers-les-Bains plant in three years.
Hélène Marchand, General Manager France, said, “I’m pleased to announce this major development which will allow us to decrease by half our CO2 emissions in less than 10 years in France and bring us even closer to our zero-carbon ambition by 2050. Our new electric furnace 1 on which we have been working for more than a year will be the Group’s pilot furnace.”
Verescence, a pioneer in recycled glass for luxury bottles (launch in 2008), has been ranked among the best performing companies in the EcoVadis assessment for three years now and announced last December that it had obtained an A score from CDP for tackling water security and an A- for leading effort against climate change.