For the fourth year in a row, Berry Global Group, Inc. (NYSE: BERY) has received an upgraded environmental, social and governance (ESG) rating from international ratings agency MSCI. Berry Global now carries an “AA” rating from MSCI for managing financially relevant ESG risks and opportunities, making the company a leader in the packaging industry based on MSCI’s seven-grade framework and among the top 20% of companies according to MSCI.
“We are incredibly proud of our recent upgrade by MCSI to an ‘AA’ rating. It’s a testament to the hard work from teams across our company over several years and it reinforces that we are positively contributing to a circular, net-zero economy,” said Kevin Kwilinski, CEO of Berry Global.
Over the past year, Berry Global drove improvements across the MSCI key issues of Corporate Governance, Corporate Behavior, and Packaging Material & Waste. For example, the company has made tremendous progress on efforts to achieve a circular economy for plastics – investing in recycling operations, consistently increasing use of post-consumer recycled plastic and innovating package designs with improved recyclability.
“We are making strong progress in many areas of deep importance to our customers, investors, employees and other partners,” said Robert Flores, Senior Vice President of Sustainability for Berry Global. “During the past four years, we’ve improved our rating on all MSCI’s key issues thanks to the ingenuity of teams across our businesses and locations. We are passionate about continuing this work.”
Related to the MSCI key issue of Carbon Emissions, Berry Global achieved its 2025 goal to reduce operational emissions (Scope 1 and 2) by 25% a full two years ahead of schedule. The company has committed to a science-based greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction target, doing its part to help limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. The company has also made a commitment to net-zero emissions by 2050.
Teams at Berry Global locations around the globe are implementing a variety of solutions to reduce energy consumption, including implementing energy management systems, installing more energy-efficient equipment and conducting energy audits. These and other measures are critical to helping the company cut 100 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) out of existing operations each year to help offset energy use as it grows.
More details and additional examples of progress made over the past year will be included in Berry Global’s upcoming annual sustainability report, due to be published in March.
MSCI’s ESG ratings aim to measure a company’s management of financially relevant ESG risks and opportunities. MSCI uses a rules-based methodology to show how well a company is managing these risks relative to peers. The methodology focuses on publicly available data, including company financial and sustainability disclosures under various frameworks.