Joining SCP starts with a clear leadership decision: we are ready to publish targets that go beyond legal requirements and to show our progress every year. The next step is checking whether you have the capacity to measure and manage the key impacts — first and foremost the carbon footprint — and whether your processes and people can gather data, validate it and prepare public disclosure. If the answers are yes, you are ready for the formal step.
From commitment to application
Begin by defining the scope of your pledge. Carbon is foundational and should be set on solid ground: choose a methodology, describe the boundaries and fix the baseline year against which progress will be measured. Then select an additional area — circularity, broader environmental footprint or social sustainability — and translate it into numeric, time-bound targets. If packaging is a significant share of your footprint, it is natural to address portfolio recyclability, recycled content and weight reduction. Applications are accepted throughout the year, via an online form or by sending your documentation to the Commission; clarifications may follow the initial submission, so it helps to name accountable owners from the outset and to state where and when progress will be disclosed.
Reporting progress and communicating it
To make SCP live beyond paper, establish an annual reporting cycle and stick to a calendar. Keep your methodology steady over time or, if it changes, explain the change clearly to preserve comparability. In packaging categories, build verifiability: where relevant, the EU Ecolabel provides third-party assurance of strict criteria; 2D codes on-pack link to public pages that explain materials, disposal guidance, design-for-recycling logic and a concise summary of yearly figures. Inside the organisation, split responsibilities across sustainability, packaging development, supply chain, legal and communications, and maintain an audit trail from day one — it eases annual disclosures and reduces the risk of over-stated claims. Applying is not complicated, but it does require discipline: clear targets, a solid baseline and a reporting plan that gives the public understandable, verifiable information.