Moët Hennessy & Verallia: A strategic partnership to accelerate industry decarbonization and develop a new generation of glass packaging

This alliance between Moët Hennessy and Verallia reflects a shared conviction that major environmental, societal and regulatory shifts are accelerating and call for new, collective solutions at the intersection of innovation and industrial excellence.
 
Glass packaging accounts for up to 30% of the wine and spirits industry’s carbon footprint.
 
For Moët Hennessy, leader in the premium and super-premium category, reducing bottle weight and improving the energy mix, particularly through its work with Verallia, are at the heart of its decarbonization strategy, in place for many years. The initial results of this approach can already be observed across several products from the Champagne Maisons, Hennessy, Terrazas de los Andes, Chandon, as well as Château Galoupet.
 
For Verallia, reducing packaging weight, developing new technologies and decarbonizing industrial processes are key pillars of its innovation and sustainability strategies. This commitment is part of an ambitious CO₂ emissions reduction pathway, validated by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), with the objective of achieving Net Zero for scopes 1 and 2 by 2040 and scope 3 by 2050. By joining forces, Moët Hennessy and Verallia aim to develop a new generation of glass packaging combining maximum weight reduction with strength.
 
The program targets a 30% to 50% reduction in bottle weight through technologies to strengthen the glass and processes to preserve its mechanical performance.
 
This work will cover the entire value chain, from research and development to the industrial validation of solutions under real-world operating conditions.
 
For Verallia, the program will leverage its expertise in evolving production processes and equipment, as well as in carrying out testing and qualification under real-world conditions. It will be rolled out over the coming decade, with the resulting advances intended to benefit the industry as a whole.
 
“Innovation is in Moët Hennessy’s DNA. Having demonstrated that it was possible to design higher-performance glass solutions, we now intend to accelerate their development and widespread adoption. This is the essence of our partnership with Verallia: combining our expertise to pave the way for a new generation of bottles, more resource-efficient, more innovative and capable of supporting the long-term industrial transformation of our sector, as well as the customer experience.” Frédéric Dufour, member of the Moët Hennessy Executive Committee.
 
“This partnership illustrates how Verallia harnesses its expertise and innovation capabilities to support its clients’ objectives. Building on our longstanding relationship and shared environmental ambitions, we are taking the next step with Moët Hennessy by using our industrial know-how to develop new processes and study how they can be integrated into our production facilities. By combining glassmaking expertise, an understanding of applications and industrial excellence, we aim to pioneer a new generation of packaging that is lighter and lower carbon while maintaining the same high performance.  Romain Barral, Operations Director at Verallia.
 
Verallia will bring to the partnership its proven expertise in the innovative design and manufacture of glass packaging, as well as its ability to support clients from the early phases of research to the industrialization of solutions. The Group will notably rely on its leading position in the development of lightweight bottles, with models among the lightest on the market, and on its mastery of industrial processes to test and then deploy innovations on a large scale. These projects will complement the Group’s investments in reducing its CO₂ emissions.
 
Moët Hennessy will bring its understanding of applications, its expertise in consumer experience and its ability to qualify and deploy innovations at scale in particularly demanding industrial environments.
 
This alliance also aims to address packaging decarbonization challenges and anticipate future regulatory requirements under the European PPWR (Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation), that will progressively tighten requirements for packaging reduction at source, recyclability and circularity.