Paris Agreement Archives

Geodis has pledged to reduce its scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 42% and reduce the carbon intensity of subcontracted transport (scope 3) by 30% by 2030 compared to 2022.

Confronted with the climate emergency, GEODIS is committed to a process of reducing its carbon emissions through the application of a science-based approach (the Science Based Targets initiative, or SBTi), in compliance with the goal of the Paris Agreement to limit global warming to 1.5° C. This commitment concerns both direct and indirect emissions.

GEODIS has set targets of 42% for the reduction of the GHG emissions generated by its fleets of vehicles and its buildings (scopes 1 and 2) and 30% for the carbon intensity of subcontracted transport (scope 3) by 2030, by comparison with the base year 2022. These targets have been submitted to the SBTi for approval.

Marie-Christine Lombard, Chief Executive Officer of GEODIS, said: “For many years, GEODIS has been working seriously alongside its customers and partners on measuring and reducing its impact on the climate. Our new goals will further speed up the process, and they establish GEODIS as one of the most committed companies. This new phase is fully in line with the Group’s ambition to make its lines of business more sustainable and to provide our customers with innovative, sustainable and ethical logistics offerings.”

To achieve these ambitious objectives, GEODIS has defined pathways for each Line of Business and geographic region, and has taken account of all the levers necessary for decarbonization.

With regard to its own fleet, GEODIS plans to continue the transition towards alternative vehicles and modes using carbon-free or bio-sourced energies and installing suitable infrastructures for refueling and charging. Collaborative innovation is key to these transformations. As far as last-mile deliveries are concerned, GEODIS has already set a target of providing low-carbon delivery services in 40 French cities by the end of 2024.

Alongside the transition of its own fleet, GEODIS is carrying out measures to reduce GHG emissions on all forms of transport involved in its operations. Its plan entails the use of sustainable marine fuel (SMF) and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), giving support to customers seeking to optimize their flows and implement appropriate modal shifts, and permanent optimization of the efficiency of the resources employed (the latest generation planes, ships and vehicles; optimized loading and itineraries). This transformation depends on selecting subcontractors on the basis of their practices and commitments, and on supporting small road transport companies to help them carry out their own technological transition.

Reducing the carbon emissions of sites assumes a 40% improvement in overall energy efficiency as well as the availability of a minimum of 90% of low-carbon energy. Projects for new sites incorporate the most stringent environmental requirements.

Measures to achieve optimization, whether they concern routing, loading or the energy efficiency of vehicles or sites, make heavy use of increasingly sophisticated digital tools that are very much part of GEODIS’s ongoing innovation projects.

This transformation relies greatly on the commitment of GEODIS teams. A vast awareness campaign has given them a thorough understanding of climate issues, the principle being the more they understand, the better they will act. Meanwhile, the Group’s senior executives already have a climate criterion incorporated into the variable portion of their remuneration. In addition, environment-related criteria are taken into account in decision-making processes associated with acquisitions and investments.

COP28, which begins today, will see global business leaders take stock of progress since the 2015 Paris Agreement, emphasising the need for action to drive forward net-zero goals. Efficio, a global procurement and supply chain consultancy, is working with business leaders to do just that – turning attention to the supply chain to make the biggest impact on ESG. That’s because supply chain emissions typically make up 40-80% of an organization’s total carbon emissions – sometimes even reaching over 90%.

According to Efficio research, 73% of business leaders (77% of C-suite) cite minimising or eradicating environmental impacts as a key priority for the next two years – but a clear line of sight surrounding ESG factors remains a barrier to success. Data needed to quantify carbon emissions within the supply chain can span multiple systems and suppliers. This can be difficult to gather, let alone analyse for future decision-making.

In response to this challenge, Efficio is working with businesses to implement the CarbonCube®, a tool that lets procurement teams efficiently measure and monitor supply chain emissions, set targets, and monitor supplier performance.

Today, CPOs from Kantar, a global data, insights and consulting company, and Permanent TSB (PTSB), a provider of personal financial services in Ireland, are among some of the organisations using the technology to deliver their sustainability strategies. Using the CarbonCube®, PTSB has been able to leverage spend data to identify priority categories with high greenhouse emissions, gain visibility over sustainability commitments made by its supply base, and support the business’s overall sustainability strategy through target assessment and supplier outreach.

Rachel Hollywood, Procurement ESG Manager at PTSB recently commented: “Efficio’s CarbonCube® enabled us to set a strong and realistic emission baseline from which to prepare carbon reduction initiatives, supporting the bank’s strategic agenda for its 2024 SBTi submission and fostering a culture of sustainability and environmental awareness throughout our value chain – from our employees through to our supply base.”

Meanwhile, Kantar is using the CarbonCube® to accelerate its carbon reduction strategy. In a recent interview, Steve Day, Chief Procurement Officer at Kantar, acknowledged that the supply chain is representative of a very significant part of any business’s carbon footprint. He sees this as an opportunity for procurement to own the topic and highlight the value the function can bring to the wider business beyond the traditional back-office function.

However, before this is possible, Day emphasised that work needs to be done, commenting: “I see a lot of people inflating their carbon strategies and thinking about net neutrality, but in truth, you must first get to a point where you can start to measure what scope three looks like. This is where the CarbonCube® comes into play – it has helped us accelerate our thinking and begin richer conversations around what categories of spending to focus on and what our category strategies are going to be.”

Commenting on the two projects, Edward Cox, Director and Sustainable Procurement Practice Lead at Efficio, concluded: “These projects are real-world examples of how procurement and supply chain teams can take the lead in driving sustainability impacts, and how trusted data sources can be used to simplify processes like quantifying carbon emissions.

“Supply chains are most organisations’ largest source of emissions, and procurement can and should be the engine for change. Procurement needs to be accountable for a growing set of metrics that have ESG at their core. Buying the right things from the right suppliers is more important than ever.”

Tag: Paris Agreement

Pathway for Reducing Vehicle Emissions

Quantifying Supply Chain Co2 Emissions

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