Brambles reports strong progress towards its 2020 Sustainability Goals

Brambles, the global supply chain logistics company operating in more than 60 countries, primarily through the CHEP and IFCO brands, has published its Sustainability Review for the 2017 Financial Year (FY17). The Review includes updates on CHEP and IFCO’s sustainability programme and its progress towards its 2020 Sustainability Goals. These goals are based on the company’s Better Business, Better Planet, Better Communities sustainability programme and are closely aligned with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Examples of Brambles’ achievements reported in the 2017 Sustainability Review include:

• Better Business – Making customers’ supply chains more efficient and investing in a safe, inclusive work environment where our employees can develop. Brambles operates a circular business model, specialising in the sharing and reuse of unit load equipment including more than 590 million pallets, crates and containers. In FY17, customers’ use of CHEP and IFCO platforms saved 1.6 million trees, 2.5 million metric tonnes of CO2 emissions and 1.4 million metric tonnes of solid waste. Brambles also initiated transport collaboration projects with over 200 customers to remove 64.7 million empty truck kilometres from the world’s supply chains.

These achievements have been recognised through multiple industry awards, including a Gold award from EcoVadis which specialises in supplier sustainability analysis. Brambles has also been ranked top of its industry category on the World Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI), and received AAA ratings from the Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) and Sustainalytics indices.

To create a Better Workplace, Brambles is committed to achieving its goal of Zero Harm. The company made another large step towards that goal with both the CHEP and IFCO business units improving their safety performance in FY17. The financial year also saw a 78% increase in learning hours, with employees completing 1.73 days’ worth of training each on average.

• Better Planet – Reducing the environmental impact of Brambles’ own operations. In FY17 99.1% of the timber used by CHEP came from certified sources. Brambles also eliminated plastic waste and raw material costs by recycling 22,600 tonnes of end-of-life plastic materials into new CHEP plastic pallets and IFCO reusable plastic crates. Brambles operations also achieved a 7.8% reduction in carbon emissions per unit and 14.3% of the electricity it consumed came from renewable sources.

• Better Communities – Positively contributing to the communities in which Brambles operates. Brambles supports food rescue organisations, educational opportunity and environmental restoration projects by providing volunteers, corporate sponsorship and in-kind donations. All permanent Brambles, IFCO and CHEP employees have access to three days of paid volunteer leave every year. In total, Brambles’ FY17 community investments were worth over $4,541,137 representing a 49% increase.

Brambles’ Head of Global Sustainability, Juan Jose Freijo, said: “This has been another fantastic year for sustainability at Brambles in which we have continued our excellent progress towards our 2020 goals. These achievements are only possible thanks to the end-to-end collaboration between our employees and our customers worldwide”.

“Our commitment to sustainability is at the very heart of everything we do. Through the successful combination of our circular, “share and reuse” business model, global scale and supply chain expertise, we are able to reduce operating costs and demand for natural resources, both in our own company and across the world’s supply chains.”