Companies continue seeking ways to reduce their environmental impact, aiming for the gold carbon neutrality standard. However, realizing this ambitious goal requires a comprehensive strategy and a focus both on big-picture processes and detailed minutiae. From partnering with green suppliers to increasing their focus on alternative energy sources, enterprises have a variety of tactics at their disposal that can help them manage supply chain emissions and lower their carbon footprint.
In recent years, retail and e-commerce giants such as Amazon, Kroger, Walmart, and others have established ambitious carbon-neutrality goals. Achieving these objectives is contingent not only on optimizing internal operations but also on addressing the vast complexities of the supply chain. Notably, initiatives like Project Gigaton at Walmart showcase industry efforts to mitigate environmental impact throughout the entire supply chain.
While ambitious carbon neutrality goals like Amazon’s Climate Pledge and Walmart’s Project Gigaton resonate across the industry, achieving them requires more than a solo sprint. The vast, interconnected web of the supply chain, responsible for a staggering 80 to 90 percent of a company’s emissions, demands collective action.
Challenge Demands Working Together
But no company can conquer this challenge alone. The World Economic Forum highlights that more than 50 percent of global carbon emissions are concentrated in just eight supply chains: food, construction, fashion, fast-moving consumer goods, electronics, automotive, professional services, and freight. For millions around the world, a 1.5°C (2.7° F) increase in temperature threatens their homes, livelihoods, and futures. Taming these eight supply chain giants demands a collective effort.
An overall goal of reducing a company’s carbon footprint can be daunting. However, it is important to remember that every effective carbon-neutral commitment has an actionable plan behind it. There are specific actions an enterprise can take to make an impact — and these collective efforts add up. These include:
- Conduct carbon footprint and product lifecycle analyses. Evaluate your operations to better understand the areas of your business that produce the most emissions and identify opportunities for improvement.
- Partner with green suppliers. For example, Walmart recognizes suppliers that commit to measurable sustainability goals and report their emission reductions.
- Explore alternative and clean energy options. This can include electric or fuel-efficient vehicles as well as wind and solar power. Tax incentives are often available for companies that opt for energy options that reduce carbon emissions.
- Identify opportunities to create closed-loop systems. These systems embrace recyclability and keep excess truck miles off the road. Here at iGPS, we work with our retail partners to have our plastic pallets inspected and returned to manufacturers without needing transportation to a third-party depot. This not only makes the supply chain more efficient, but it also reduces carbon emissions with every pallet that is shipped through our iDepot system.
- Publicize your efforts. Transparency plays a vital role in ensuring that companies remain accountable for their sustainability goals. Consider publishing an annual sustainability report or identifying other ways to promote your efforts to decrease your carbon footprint.
- Use lightweight packaging and shipping platforms. Packaging and pallets add significant weight to shipments, ultimately increasing greenhouse gas emissions. You can ensure that shippers use fuel efficiently by identifying lighter packaging options (including recyclable or biodegradable packaging) and using more lightweight pallets.
How Plastic Pallets Can Help
Yet another actionable change involves the switch from wood to recyclable plastic pallets. Beyond the immediate fuel savings, opting for lighter packaging and pallets unlocks additional environmental benefits. Every pound shaved off a shipment means less fuel burned, slashing carbon emissions with each journey. And in a pallet pooling model, pallets can be inspected by retailers and sent back to manufacturers, eliminating multiple legs and deadhead miles from the transportation cycle.
Plastic pallets also boast a significantly longer lifespan than their wooden counterparts. The typical iGPS pallet lasts about 100 trips (actual, not lab-tested) vs. about 25 for the typical wood-block pallet. This reduces the need for frequent replacements, cutting down on the environmental footprint associated with pallet production and disposal. An iGPS pallet can be recycled at the end of its lifespan, offering “cradle-to-cradle” sustainability.
A plastic pallet’s modular design also allows for optimized space utilization. They stack more effectively and take up less room in trucks, leading to fewer shipments needed for the same amount of goods.
Effectively managing supply-chain emissions is not only a business and reputational imperative; creating a cleaner and greener tomorrow for future generations is also the right thing to do. The path to a carbon-neutral future presents many challenging obstacles, but if every enterprise follows these and other steps to reduce their carbon footprint, we can lead the way to a healthier planet.
Companies committed to reducing supply-chain emissions should consider using iGPS plastic pallets for all their shipping needs. Our lightweight, recyclable plastic pallets are distributed via a pooling model, which reduces carbon emissions. For more information, contact us at 1-800-884-0225, email a specialist at switch@igps.net, or visit our contact page.
