Brambles, the global supply chain solutions company through the CHEP brand, announced in September 2020 the successful completion of its five-year sustainability programme and the launch of an even more ambitious one, aimed at pioneering regenerative supply chains.
This new programme includes the commitment to a 1.5°C degree climate future aligned with the Paris Agreement and a science-based carbon emissions target for its supply chain.
As part of this objective, Brambles revealed that it has become carbon neutral in all its own operations. This means that the company’s net CO2 emissions have been brought down to zero across the scope 1 (direct emissions generated from the burning of fuel) and scope 2 (indirect emissions resulting from the production of electricity that is purchased) of the standardised Greenhouse gas (GHG) Protocol.
Becoming carbon neutral in scopes 1 and 2 is the first step towards the ambitious and more challenging decarbonisation of Brambles’ entire supply chain, which would involve also the emissions generated by subcontractors’ operations (scope 3). To do so, the company will set a science-based Target [1] for emissions in its direct control and in its supply chain.
“I could not be prouder of this milestone”, Brambles’ CEO, Graham Chipchase, says. “But the work does not stop here. The real challenge lies ahead of us in advocating for our customers and suppliers to become carbon neutral in their operations too. We will extend and build new partnerships with them to leverage the circular economy and the best available low and zero-carbon products and services to decarbonise our entire supply chain.”
As a pioneer of the circular economy, Brambles has reduced carbon emissions for over 70 years, including a significant reduction between 2015 and 2020, however, despite the company’s leadership position, in terms of carbon emissions, reaching net zero emissions can only be achieved with the help of carbon compensation initiatives.
That’s why Brambles has now offset the remaining emissions that can’t be eliminated by investing in reforestation projects, such as the rehabilitation of degraded grasslands in Uruguay through reforestation, which generates high quality Verified Carbon Standard (VCS)-certified carbon credits.
Moreover, Brambles recently joined the World Economic Forum’s 1t.Org Corporate Alliance, a cross-industry community of companies aimed at conserving, restoring and growing 1 trillion trees by 2030.
Another key driver to bring net emissions down to zero is the purchase of renewal energy. Over recent years, Brambles has made great efforts to make direct purchase of renewable electricity in many of its regions, achieving over 70% of energy provided from renewable sources in 2020.
For the remaining energy, the company purchases Energy Attribute Certificates (EACs) across the globe. These certificates verify that a certain number of megawatt-hours of electricity was generated and fed into the grid from renewable sources.