BROOMFIELD, Colo., Nov. 17, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- A few years ago, Ball Corporation (NYSE: BLL) launched an ambitious program, Cut/4 CArboN, with a goal to reduce the carbon footprint of its most common beverage can formats by 25 percent within ten years. With a 10 percent reduction through the end of 2014, Ball is on pace to meet the global target.

"We developed our comprehensive Cut/4 CArboN program to demonstrate our contribution to our customers' aggressive product carbon footprint reduction goals," said Bjoern Kulmann, Ball's director of sustainability. "We are pleased with the achievements that we have made to date, along with our partners, and have specific plans in place that will pave the way toward 2020."

Cut. Conserve. Capture.
Ball's Cut/4 CArboN target reflects a clear strategy – Cut. Conserve. Capture. The first 10 percent will come from efforts that are in the company's control, such as cutting energy usage in our plants and conserving resources by optimizing the weight of our cans. Another 15 percent will come from work with industry partners to capture the valuable metal used in packaging by increasing beverage can recycling rates and reducing the energy intensity of metal production.

Numerous projects contributed to the 10 percent reduction since 2010. A few global examples include:

• In our global metal beverage packaging business, we improved energy efficiency by 8 percent per can produced.
• We successfully continued to optimize the weight of our cans. The launch of B-Can in Europe and the global roll-out of the CDL end are important achievements in this area.
• The U.S. beverage can recycling rate increased from 58 to 66.5 percent. Ball supports this through various measures, including our considerable commitment to The Recycling Partnership.
• While the Brazilian recycling rate for beverage cans remained exceptionally high with 98 percent of all cans recycled in 2014, the metal packaging recycling rates in Europe continued to rise.
• The North American aluminum industry achieved a 19 percent carbon reduction per ton of aluminum produced in just 5 years.

Continuous Improvement Leads to Highest CDP Score Yet
Earlier this month, Ball received its highest score yet – 98 B – from CDP (formerly Carbon Disclosure Project). The 98 is Ball's "Disclosure Score," which assesses the completeness and quality of a company's response, and B represents the "Performance Band," evaluating the company's reported level of action on climate change mitigation, adaptation and transparency.

Ball has participated in CDP assessments since 2007, improving our score each year as the top metal packaging company. A group of 822 investors with $95 trillion in assets uses CDP to identify companies that report reliable, comprehensive information about climate change risks and opportunities. Ball is committed to providing relevant information to key stakeholders, including customers and investors.

For more information about sustainability at Ball and the Cut/4 CArboN program, please visit www.ball.com/sustainability.

About Ball Corporation
Ball Corporation supplies innovative, sustainable packaging solutions for beverage, food and household products customers, as well as aerospace and other technologies and services primarily for the U.S. government. Ball Corporation and its subsidiaries employ 14,500 people worldwide and reported 2014 sales of $8.6 billion. For more information, visit www.ball.com, or connect with us on Facebook or Twitter.

Forward-Looking Statements
This release contains "forward-looking" statements concerning future events and financial performance. Words such as "expects," "anticipates," "estimates" and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements. Such statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied. The company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Key risks and uncertainties are summarized in filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including Exhibit 99 in our Form 10-K, which are available on our website and at www.sec.gov. Factors that might affect: a) our packaging segments include product demand fluctuations; availability/cost of raw materials; competitive packaging, pricing and substitution; changes in climate and weather; crop yields; competitive activity; failure to achieve productivity improvements or cost  reductions; mandatory deposit or other restrictive packaging laws; customer and supplier consolidation, power and supply chain influence; changes in major customer or supplier contracts or loss of a major customer or supplier; political instability and sanctions; and changes in foreign exchange or tax rates; b) our aerospace segment include funding, authorization, availability and returns of government and commercial contracts; and delays, extensions and technical uncertainties affecting segment contracts; c) the company as a whole include those listed plus: changes in senior management; regulatory action or issues including tax, environmental, health and workplace safety, including U.S. FDA and other actions or public concerns affecting products filled in our containers, or chemicals or substances used in raw materials or in the manufacturing process; technological developments and innovations; litigation; strikes; labor cost changes; rates of return on assets of the company's defined benefit retirement plans; pension changes; uncertainties surrounding the U.S. government budget, sequestration and debt limit; reduced cash flow; ability to achieve cost-out initiatives; interest rates affecting our debt; and successful or unsuccessful acquisitions and divestitures, including, with respect to the proposed Rexam PLC acquisition, the effect of the announcement of the acquisition on our business relationships, operating results and business generally; the occurrence of any event or other circumstances that could give rise to the termination of our definitive agreement with Rexam PLC in respect of the acquisition; the outcome of any legal proceedings that may be instituted against us related to the definitive agreement with Rexam PLC; and the failure to satisfy conditions to completion of the acquisition of Rexam PLC, including the receipt of all required regulatory approvals.

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SOURCE Ball Corporation