CHEP Europe Achieves its 2015 Sustainability Targets Early

CHEP, the world’s leading provider of pallet and container pooling solutions, has achieved its 2015 sustainability targets six months ahead of schedule in Europe. These targets were defined in 2010 as part of a five year plan. CHEP Europe has:

• reduced CO2 emissions by 20%, 
• achieved Chain of Custody Certification(1) for 100% of timber purchased, and 
• stopped any wood waste from CHEP’s own Service Centres being sent to landfill. 

Sustainability is fundamental to the way CHEP does business. As part of this commitment, the company has set up a number of programmes to achieve targets, help customers and contribute to more sustainable supply chains. For example, customers can use CHEP’s ‘Power of Pooling’ tool (www.powerofpooling.com) to calculate the environmental and cost savings of working with CHEP. This tool uses a questionnaire and lifecycle analysis methodology to estimate a customer’s carbon emissions, wood and landfill waste and annual pallet expense. Using the CHEP pooled pallet system can reduce all of these.

The CHEP Customer Collaboration Programme helps businesses optimise costs and reduce their environmental impacts. One of these programmes is Collaborative Transportation which is based on the sustainability benefits of sharing road, rail or inland waterways. Last year CHEP Europe partnered with over 100 customers to eliminate over 5.1 million kilometres of empty truck haulage and 5,200 tonnes of CO2 emissions. In recognition of their participation, CHEP gave each customer a certificate which shows the number of kilometres saved and the amount of CO2 emissions eliminated.

Other Customer Collaboration Programmes include Total Pallet Management (TPM) and Total Equipment Management (TEM). In these programmes, pallets are sorted, inspected and reissued from the customer’s premises. Only equipment requiring repair is returned to a CHEP plant. There are 30 TPMs running across Europe at customer sites, contributing to a significant reduction in truck kilometres and emissions while reducing supply chain costs.

Since the start of the Customer Collaboration and Multimodal Transportation programmes in 2012, CHEP has eliminated more than 73 million kilometres of empty truck haulage and the associated 57,715 tonnes of CO2 emissions from the supply chain.

CHEP is also focused on reducing CO2 associated with its transport. CHEP is a member of the Lean and Green Programme in Benelux, Italy and Germany. CHEP has already received the Lean and Green Star in Belgium and the Netherlands for achieving the committed 20% CO2 reduction. Lean and Green is a programme led by Connekt – a not-for-profit organisation – that promotes company’s engagement in making their logistics and mobility process more sustainable.

CHEP also offers carbon neutrality for customers by calculating their specific carbon footprint using lifecycle analysis. The CHEP Carbon Neutral Pallet Programme, launched in 2013 in Spain, enables participating customers to offset the annual carbon footprint associated with the use of CHEP pallets. Internationally-recognised carbon credits are awarded for investing in reforestation and other environmental projects in developing countries. Since 2013, CHEP has helped customers offset more than 12,000 tonnes of carbon while also delivering social benefits to the communities where projects take place.

Jo Swennen, Spadel Group Procurement & Logistics Manager, Supply Chain, said: “For us, sustainability is not just a buzzword but a key element of our vision. It means striving for a harmonious and respectful relationship of man to nature. CHEP service is a pioneering first step that will contribute towards our goal of becoming a Carbon Neutral business in 2020.”

Inigo Canalejo, CHEP Europe Sustainability Senior Manager, said: “We have been working on different initiatives to ensure we were able to meet the sustainability targets. This early achievement is thanks to the huge collective efforts of our employees and it makes us proud. We are focused on building a long-term, sustainable business that serves our customers, employees and shareholders and the communities in which we operate.”

CHEP’s efforts in sustainability have also been recognised with an EcoVadis(2) Silver Level Accreditation in 2014. The company earned this recognition through its environmental sustainability, economic and social performance. CHEP has also been an AB member of SEDEX (3) (Supplier Ethical Data Exchange) since 2010 and has conducted SMETA (Sedex Members Ethical Trade Audit) at a number of their European sites.