ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Brambles, the global supply chain solutions company operating through the CHEP brand, is embarking on a new five-year sustainability plan. Leveraging its circular business model, Brambles aims to transform how life’s essentials are delivered to people by pioneering regenerative supply chains for its customers.
According to Dr. JJ Freijo, Brambles’ Global Head of Sustainability, “For us ‘regenerative’ means restoring, replenishing and creating more value or capital for society and the environment than the business takes out. The business understands its responsibility around this ambitious vision which is why we are also seeking to account for both the natural and social capital of our 2025 programs and validate our progress towards a regenerative position.”
Brambles shared its achievements over the past five years in its annual Sustainability Review released in September, where it also unveiled its new targets, seeking to create a nature-positive business with reuse, resilience and regeneration at its core. This innovative sustainability strategy sees an evolution from Brambles’ 2015 Better Planet, Better Business, Better Communities program to a Planet Positive, Business Positive and Communities Positive strategy. In essence, it’s about doing more good and creating more positive outcomes rather than being “less bad” by only reducing negative impacts.
Continuing its strong alignment with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Brambles has had great success pursuing its 2020 Zero Deforestation, Zero Emissions and Zero Waste agendas. At the close of the 2020 financial period, the contribution of renewable electricity reached 70%, helping to exceed its 20% emissions reduction goal by realizing a 33% reduction since 2015. Most importantly, 100% of all wood materials were sourced from sustainably certified forests helping to positively transform global forest markets.
Looking forward, Brambles’ 2025 Planet Positive targets aim to set a new benchmark and shift the business to a net positive position. In practice, Brambles commits to:
- A Forest Positive target, which means growing two trees for every one used in pallet manufacturing1, adding millions of new trees by 2030;
- All operations being CarbonNeutral®, with 100% of electricity from renewable sources;
- Turning single-use plastics into long-life, closed loop products aiming to reach a minimum of 30% recycled or upcycled material in every new plastic product by 2025 and 100% by 2030; and
- Achieve zero waste, including both product and non-product materials and optimize water use in all Brambles’ locations.
Brambles’ Climate Positive actions have already begun, with its CEO, Graham Chipchase, signing the United Nations Global Compacts (UNGC) ‘Business Ambition for 1.5ºC Pledge,’ developed to encourage more businesses worldwide to commit to limiting increases in global temperature to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
“We have less than 10 years to fundamentally change our economies or we will face catastrophic consequences,” said Lise Kingo, CEO & Executive Director of the UN Global Compact. “For the first time, we are seeing business and climate leaders coalesce around a common call-to-action, sending a powerful signal that science-based target setting presents a significant opportunity for businesses to step up when it comes to tackling climate change and limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. We are delighted to see Brambles has signed the 1.5 degrees Celsius commitment. We need more global circular economy pioneers like it to come together and bring networks, leadership and vision.”
The 2025 Business Positive targets focus on accelerating the transition to a circular economy by expanding Brambles’ leading Share and Reuse business model to more customers in more supply chains. In practice, this means:
- Using its circular solutions to increase the environmental outcomes in its customers’ supply chains and leveraging Brambles’ Forest Positive initiatives to compensate for residual impacts;
- Expanding its exclusive Positive Collaboration program to all regions and doubling customer collaboration partnerships;
- Co-developing and improving its performance in leading circular economy measurement tools; and
- Enabling more diversity in the workplace by employing at least 40% women in management positions, doubling the number of women working in Brambles’ plants, placing Brambles in the top 20% of inclusive companies to work for.
Brambles’ 2025 Communities Positive targets seek to further increase its positive impacts in the communities it operates in. This includes helping to serve food to 10 million people worldwide by deploying the company’s core expertise in logistics and leveraging its in-kind equipment programs to address the interlinked issues of food waste and food relief. Brambles will continue its work with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and the World Economic Forum (WEF), among others, to advocate, educate and impact 1 million circular economy change-makers across universities, business schools and customer organizations to expand circular economy know-how.
Brambles believes this vision is ambitious and, right now, admits it doesn’t have all the answers. However, through the engagement of its people and commitment of its partners, the company will collaborate to find the solutions. As a pioneer in the circular economy, Brambles is already well positioned to succeed in this new context and most importantly, it has already begun.
Brambles Limited (ASX: BXB): Under the CHEP brand, Brambles helps move more goods to more people, in more places than any other organization on earth. Its pallets, crates and containers form the invisible backbone of the global supply chain and the world’s biggest brands trust Brambles to help them transport their goods more efficiently, sustainably and safely. As pioneers of the sharing economy, Brambles created one of the world's most sustainable logistics businesses through the share and reuse of its platforms under a model known as ‘pooling’. Brambles primarily serves the fast-moving consumer goods (e.g. dry food, grocery, and health and personal care), fresh produce, beverage, retail and general manufacturing industries. The Group employs approximately 12,000 people and owns approximately 330 million pallets, crates and containers through a network of more than 750 service centers. Brambles operates in approximately 60 countries with its largest operations in North America and Western Europe. For further information, please visit www.brambles.com.
1. From each tree approximately 20 pallets are manufactured
