How should the packaging industry respond to dual-carbon and sustainable development requirements?

Real-World Pressures on the Packaging Industry Under the Dual-Carbon Goals

The "Dual Carbon" goals are a national strategy proposed by China in 2020—reaching peak carbon emissions by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060. The packaging industry, as an upstream segment of manufacturing, does not have the highest carbon emission intensity, yet it faces direct policy and market pressures due to its broad coverage, large number of SKUs, and immediate visibility to consumers.

For packaging and printing enterprises, the real-world pressures come from three aspects: first, the regulatory side, where GB 23350-2021 imposes hard constraints on excessive packaging; second, the client side (brand owners), who demand packaging data for ESG reporting and carbon footprint disclosure; and third, the market side, where the EU PPWR and CBAM carbon tariffs indirectly transmit impacts to exported products.

Level 1: Regulatory Compliance Baseline

Compliance is the minimum threshold; companies must first ensure they are not subject to regulatory penalties. The regulations that the packaging industry needs to focus on include:

• GB 23350-2021 "Restricting Excessive Packaging of Foods and Cosmetics": Mandatory requirements for the number of layers, void fill ratio, and packaging cost proportion.
• GB 4806.7 / 4806.8 series: Safety standards for food contact materials.
• EU PPWR: All packaging must be recyclable by 2030, with minimum recycled plastic content requirements for certain categories.
• EU CBAM: Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, which imposes carbon tariffs on certain imported products; packaging carbon emissions are included in the calculation scope.

Beyond compliance, leading companies have turned "beyond-compliance" into a differentiating selling point—for example, while GB 23350 requires no more than 3 layers, they proactively achieve ≤2 layers and align with the PPWR 2030 targets ahead of schedule.

Level Two: Carbon Footprint Accounting

The Carbon Footprint is the foundational data for enterprises addressing the dual-carbon goals. Accounting in the packaging industry mainly refers to ISO 14067 (Product Carbon Footprint) and the GHG Protocol (Greenhouse Gas Accounting System).

The accounting boundary typically covers: raw material acquisition (pulp, chemical raw materials), manufacturing processes (electricity and fuel for printing, die-cutting, and box gluing), transportation (finished product distribution), and end-of-life treatment (recycling/landfilling/incineration). A complete packaging box carbon footprint report lists the CO2e emissions at each stage and identifies the data sources (measured values, Ecoinvent database, industry averages).

Major customers (brand owners in food, cosmetics, and electronics) require packaging suppliers to provide a PCF (Product Carbon Footprint) report when conducting Scope 3 emissions disclosure. Packaging enterprises lacking this data will gradually be excluded from the list of qualified suppliers.

Level Three: Material Substitution

Material substitution is the most direct lever for packaging emission reduction. Three directions are worth attention:

• Use of recycled materials: recycled paper, recycled PE, and recycled PET, while maintaining mechanical performance, can reduce raw-material-stage carbon emissions by 30-50%. FSC and PEFC certified papers are internationally well-recognized solutions.
• Single-material design: converting paper-plastic-aluminum composite structures to single PE or single PP not only facilitates recycling but also typically results in lower carbon emissions than composite structures.
• Biodegradable materials: bio-based plastics such as PLA and PHA have lower raw-material-stage carbon emissions than petroleum-based plastics, but this must be evaluated against specific LCA data and cannot be generalized.

The key to material substitution is "equivalent substitution"—a downgraded solution cannot be used as a substitute. For example, replacing 350 g white card with 250 g white card reduces box rigidity, leading to higher transportation damage rates, which may actually increase full life-cycle carbon emissions.

Level Four: Production Process Optimization

The emission-reduction potential of process optimization is often underestimated. Common pathways include:

• Digital printing replacing part of traditional offset printing: eliminates plate-making steps, reducing chemicals and waste.
• Water-based inks replacing solvent-based inks: VOC emissions decrease, and waste gas treatment energy consumption is reduced.
• Solvent recovery systems: introducing recovery devices in laminating, coating and other processes, with recycling rates reaching 70-80%.
• Smart layout and die-cutting optimization: through AI layout algorithms, paper waste is reduced from 15% to within 8%, lowering energy consumption per sheet.
• Centralized ink and air supply systems: compared with single-machine configurations, energy consumption drops by 20-30%.

LeXiang Packaging is equipped with HP Indigo digital presses and Kodak large-format printing equipment, supporting small-batch, multi-variety customization and reducing material consumption at the source during plate-making and proofing stages.

Quantifiable Emission Reduction Levers

For enterprises, emission reduction levers must be quantifiable, traceable, and reportable in ESG disclosures. Common quantitative indicators include:

• Packaging weight per unit product (g/piece), with a year-on-year reduction ratio.
• Share of recycled materials in total material consumption.
• Share of water-based inks in total ink consumption.
• Share of water-based lamination / biodegradable extrusion coating replacing PE lamination.
• Paper waste rate (imposition waste / total paper consumption).
• Energy consumption per unit output value (kWh per RMB 10,000 of output).

These indicators are not only used for internal management but also serve as hard currency for interfacing with key clients' Scope 3 disclosures, applying for green factory certification, and participating in industry carbon neutrality initiatives.

Certification Pathway

The sustainability certification systems for packaging enterprises, ranked from lower to higher tiers, include:

• ISO 9001 Quality Management System: the foundational threshold.
• ISO 14001 Environmental Management System: the environmental management framework.
• ISO 14064 / 14067: greenhouse gas accounting and product carbon footprint.
• FSC / PEFC Certification: sustainable raw material sourcing.
• Green Factory Evaluation: led by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), covering energy, chemicals, carbon emissions, and other dimensions.
• Carbon Neutrality Certification (PAS 2060 / ISO 14068-1): achieving net zero through offsetting or emission reduction.

For small and medium-sized packaging enterprises, it is recommended to first implement ISO 14001 and ISO 14064 to build the foundation, and then progressively advance to higher-tier ISO 14067 and carbon neutrality certifications. Certification is not a one-time investment, but a lever for continuous improvement.

Implementation Recommendations

For enterprises, responding to the dual-carbon goals does not need to be achieved overnight. We recommend starting with three steps: first, conduct a packaging materials audit to quantify the current carbon emission baseline; second, identify 3-5 emission reduction levers and include them in the annual improvement plan; third, align with core customers' ESG disclosure requirements to ensure data availability.

LeXiang Packaging can directly reduce material consumption during the sampling and mass production stages through digital printing, mono-material solutions, and small-batch customization, serving as a practical supporting link in enterprises' dual-carbon pathways.