James Ross Consulting partnered with a global consumer goods company to build a comprehensive sustainability framework and decision-support tool that allowed teams to evaluate, compare, and improve packaging sustainability at scale. The program transformed sustainability from a set of aspirations into a practical, measurable business process.
The client had made strong corporate commitments to reduce environmental impact across all product categories, yet lacked a unified definition or system to measure packaging sustainability. Different business units used inconsistent criteria, and local teams made material decisions based on availability or cost, not on shared sustainability metrics.
This fragmentation led to challenges in:
Comparing packaging formats and materials across global markets.
Evaluating trade-offs between sustainability, performance, and cost.
Reporting progress against corporate and regulatory targets.
James Ross Consulting was asked to help the client define what “sustainability” meant for their packaging portfolio — and create a tool that would allow teams to make consistent, data-driven decisions.
For a multinational business with hundreds of packaging formats and suppliers, the primary challenge was complexity. Sustainability metrics varied widely, and packaging engineers lacked a single system that could assess recyclability, carbon footprint, and functional performance simultaneously.
The project needed to achieve three objectives:
Definition – Create a clear, science-based framework for packaging sustainability that aligned with corporate goals.
Standardization – Build a consistent tool to evaluate and compare packaging options across regions and materials.
Integration – Ensure the system could be adopted across functions, from R&D and procurement to marketing and ESG reporting.
James Ross Consulting applied its Sustainable Packaging Framework – a structured five-step methodology built from years of packaging, supply chain, and sustainability expertise.
We began by working with stakeholders across sustainability, R&D, and brand teams to define what “sustainable packaging” meant for the business. This included aligning terminology, impact categories (carbon, recyclability, renewable content, etc.), and packaging principles that reflected both brand and regional realities.
Using data from the client’s packaging specifications and supplier inputs, we conducted a baseline analysis to identify where the greatest environmental impact and improvement potential existed across the portfolio.
The Sustainability Tool Development program delivered significant operational and strategic benefits:
Unified definition of sustainability across all packaging teams, enabling consistent evaluation and reporting.
Improved decision-making, allowing engineers and procurement teams to select materials and formats that balanced sustainability with performance and cost.
Faster innovation cycles, as the tool simplified assessments during new product development.
Enhanced governance and transparency, with clear data ownership and accountability structures.
Secondary sustainability benefits include more recyclable packaging formats, reduced material use, and better alignment with suppliers.
The client continues to use the tool as a foundational element of their global packaging sustainability program – integrating it into new product development, supplier evaluation, and annual ESG reporting.
By defining what sustainability means in practice and embedding it into business systems, James Ross Consulting helped the client move from ambition to implementation. The resulting tool and framework continue to guide packaging decisions across markets — making sustainability measurable, actionable, and scalable.
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