“For our zero carbon ambitions, we will be net zero by 2040. Therefore, we aim for 100% renewable energy use in our facilities “
Fieke de Haan
Director Corporate Sustainability
We must all speed up our actions:
Because our customers want it
Sustainability is of strategic importance to our company. Many of our customers across all market segments are reaching out, asking for our sustainability performance, and requesting more sustainable solutions and services. We want to – and have to – collaborate with both customers and suppliers to accelerate the transition and meet our goals.
As our Board member, Executive Vice President Airport & Parcel Solutions, Andrew Manship recently stated, it’s now critical that we are a sustainable supplier – or better still, a partner for change. What’s more, sustainability is a USP for our customers.
Because our people want it
Sustainability is increasingly important to our employees. An increasing number of people want to work for a company that has set a clear and tangible sustainability strategy, and which enables them to make a positive contribution to the world around them.
Because there is global urgency
Global warming is a fact, and we must do everything we can to turn the tide. We are also running out of raw materials and there is still no planet B. And on top of that, global inequality remains an important challenge, destabilising the societies we live in.
Beyond strategy
In 2020, the Board approved our sustainability strategy, which centres around four missions: zero carbon footprint; circular economy; doing good business; and delivering a fulfilling experience.
We have established KPIs, and set targets for every mission to make the strategy more tangible, and to enable us to measure progress in reaching our goals. We’ve set short- (2025), medium- (2030) and long-term (2040) targets, so that we are clear about our aims and objectives. These emphasise that there is no time to lose if we are to make positive changes to help the planet.
The targets make it easier to communicate and align our activities with our customers, suppliers, employees and the wider world. Also, we can measure progress and it allows us to translate what we do into a roadmap. Working in this way means we can assign responsibility for meeting the targets.
In this blog we present the high-level goals.
Driving change
For our zero carbon ambitions, we will be net zero by 2040. Therefore, we aim for 100% renewable energy use in our facilities – by 2025 in our Veghel headquarters and globally by 2030. We will be reducing energy use in our buildings by 2% a year, while significantly cutting carbon emissions resulting from business travel and commuting. Our solutions will run 30-50% more efficiently. We will engage with suppliers to reduce emissions from the production and transportation of goods, and when we ship our products to customers.
To help build a circular economy, we aim for zero waste at our campus in Veghel, The Netherlands by 2030 and globally by 2040. To make this a reality, we will team up with customers and suppliers to design circular solutions, which reduce our dependency on raw materials and cut waste. We will switch to non-virgin and recyclable materials, and look for life-cycle extensions by optimising processes for repair, reuse and remanufacture. To give insights into the environmental footprint of our products, we will develop proper product documentation.
Our plans for doing good business include the introduction of a code of conduct for suppliers with the goal of achieving a 100% commitment from our key suppliers. In addition, we aim to achieve the Global EcoVadis Platinum standard by 2030. EcoVadis is the largest sustainability ratings company in world. These ratings are based on assessments in such areas as: the environment, labour and human rights, ethics and sustainable procurement practices.
A key aspect of our fulfilling experience mission is building a safe, diverse and inclusive working environment for all our employees. To that end, we aim for a 100% people-first solution and can justifiably claim to lead our industry in our health and safety performance. Our solutions will also ensure that our customers’ employees have a positive experience when they work with us.
In the next two blogs (here and here), I will talk in more detail about the sub-targets that have been established across our four missions.