In response to the climate emergency, Verallia has been committed for several years to decarbonising its operations. Supported by a clear and robust CSR roadmap—now reinforced by the SBTi’s1 validation of its Net Zero 2040 trajectory—the Group aims to reduce its CO2 emissions (scopes 1 and 2) by 46.2 percent by 2030 compared with 2019, and by 90percent by 2040. Verallia is the first global producer of glass packaging for beverages and food products to commit to this trajectory for 2040.
In this context, the Group is deploying a diversified portfolio of low‑carbon melting technologies across its network of plants. These include 100% electric furnaces, Cognac, France), traditional super‑boosted furnaces (Chalon‑sur‑Saône, France), and oxy‑fuel furnaces (Campo Bom, Brazil, and Pescia, Italy), as well as the Group’s new hybrid furnaces (Zaragoza, Spain, with a second planned for Saint‑Romain‑le‑Puy, France).
Those pilot projects allow Verallia engineering teams to develop their innovative technologies, ensuring their optimisation in terms of costs and efficiency, but also the skills and the knowledge required to operate and maintain those furnaces. As such, those projects prepare the deployment across the Group of decarbonised furnaces in the coming years.
The Zaragoza hybrid furnace project, launched in 2022 and developed with SORG for a total investment of EUR 63 million, marks a new stage in this transformation.
The hybrid furnace combines 70 percent renewable electricity with 30% natural gas or biofuel, enabling a significant reduction in environmental impact while ensuring production reliability and industrial flexibility.
With three production lines, the furnace offers a high degree of operational agility and can produce different glass colours. At full capacity, the Zaragoza site—which operates two furnaces—will increase its production to 1.3 million containers per day, reinforcing its role as a reference site on the Iberian Peninsula.
Patrice Lucas, Chief Executive Officer of the Verallia Group, said, “The commissioning of our first hybrid furnace in Zaragoza represents a significant step in the decarbonisation of our processes, notably through the progressive electrification of glass melting. This milestone forms part of Verallia’s broader commitment to the decarbonisation of the glass packaging industry, through investments in technologies that prepare our entire value chain for more sustainable production models.”