Cutting emissions has become increasingly important for businesses, as their customers demand not just the best service, but optimal sustainability that must be delivered efficiently within budgets.
XPO Logistics has specialist knowledge of reducing CO2 emissions after years of leading the logistics industry in sustainability and has been the perfect partner for many companies that need to boost their environmental credentials. But this doesn’t come at the cost of efficiency.
In fact, XPO diligently meets customers' needs within their timescale and budget, while maintaining high standards across all operations. These are wide-ranging, and including full-truck-load, less-than-truck-load, pallet distribution, last-mile delivery, global freight forwarding, and warehousing services. At every step, sustainability within budgets drives each decision.
Putting words into action
The key to prioritising sustainability for partners is putting words into action. To this end, three sites – the XPO central hub at Crick, Northamptonshire, the Daimler Truck UK Limited site in Milton Keynes, and the Leicester site, East Midlands – have already reached carbon neutral status, as verified by Carbon Neutral Britain. This feat has taken years of consistent work to achieve, and more sites should reach carbon neutrality in the coming year.
The measures employed to reach carbon neutrality include:
- Switching to Tier 1 energy supply – including wind, solar, and hydro.
- Replacing all lighting with LEDs throughout offices and the warehouse, which happened more than a year earlier than expected.
- Reducing water demand by monitoring usage across the site and introducing measures to reduce consumption.
- Working with our waste contractor to achieve zero waste to landfill and increase segregation of waste streams to boost overall recycling.
- Implement an internal reuse initiative for scrap packaging (wood, metal, and high-grade card) in our operations.
- Segregating packaging waste to optimise rebates before re-investing this in other initiatives on site.
In September 2024, XPO was awarded the prestigious EcoVadis Gold Medal for Sustainability Excellence, making it one of the top 3% of companies assessed globally and the top 1% of road transport companies in Europe to receive this honour.
This award reflects the company’s commitment to leading the way in sustainable logistics by exceeding the expectations of partners and stakeholders. Key initiatives designed to continue improving sustainability include the expansion of the Low Emissions Sustainable Solutions (LESS®). This gives XPO’s partners access to sustainable transport solutions, using biofuels and multimodal solutions.
The importance of sustainable transport operations
Transport is responsible for almost 37% of global carbon emissions, and heavy trucks alone accounted for 25% of transport emissions in 2020. So, it is vital to boost opportunities to reduce emissions through various initiatives.
Electric vehicles
XPO has made significant investments in electric vehicles and continues to explore alternative technologies for heavier loads through in-house testing, to optimise emission reductions for our partners.
In early 2023, XPO finalised orders for 100 EV trucks for our French fleet, which are used to transport palletised goods as partial loads. A further 22 EV vans were added to the fleet in the UK and Ireland, taking the total to 30. A wide range of demo vehicles (26 t Rigids) are also in operation at the heavier weight categories. Plus, XPO will deploy 6 eHGVs in early 2025 through the Department of Transport-funded ZEHID initiative.
E-fuels and alternative energy sources for transportation
XPO also leads the way in the use of hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO), B100, and other non-petroleum-based fuels derived from waste oils within the logistics sector.
- In April 2023, LESS® was launched – a decarbonisation initiative allowing road transport customers to replace diesel fuel with HVO fuel for haulage. HVO is a fully renewable fuel that can reduce emissions by up to 90% compared to diesel.
- HVO isn’t just limited to use in vehicles – in Motherwell, Scotland, XPO successfully piloted its use for heating the distribution centre. Switching from heating oil to HVO saves 220,000 kg of CO2e emissions annually for this operation.
Why is decarbonising logistics so necessary?
The more we see environmental disasters, such as the deadly floods in Valencia, the greater the priority placed on reducing the effects of climate change. Using sustainable and low-emission transport solutions is a vital part of reducing the environmental impact of businesses. With the 1.5°C limits of the Paris Agreement defined, companies, particularly those in energy-intensive sectors such as chemicals, construction, steel, and industrials, face the challenge of decarbonising their operations.
To achieve this, partners need expert support to measure emissions and reduce CO2 to within sustainability targets. This helps in many ways. For example, by enabling the delivery of products in low emission zones, anticipating upcoming decarbonisation regulations, and working to reach carbon neutrality by 2050.
Reaching your decarbonisation targets
Partners have various requirements to combat emissions, and XPO caters for these from all angles. These include:
Network site and facility efficiency
Work is continuing apace to improve environmental credentials across every network site. For example:
- In Spain and Portugal, all XPO sites use 100% renewable energy and 85% of the surface area is lit with LED technology.
- In the UK, 100% tier-1 renewable energy is used for all network sites. LED is used in 76% of sites, and to enhance savings, light and motion sensors automatically dim LEDs when natural light is sufficient or workspaces are not in use.
Natural gas and biogas
By emphasizing the use of sustainable fuel solutions, such as using natural gas and biogas as an alternative to traditional, high-emission fuels, entire partner operations are more environmentally friendly.
Redefining Freight: Multimodal Transport Solutions by XPO
Using rail, road, and short sea services, collectively known as multimodal transport, XPO improves transport and logistics sustainability while overcoming challenges that different companies face.
Multimodal solutions can reduce CO2 emissions by as much as 90%, saving our operations 2,792 tonnes of CO2e in 2022 alone. Rail freight is more flexible than ever and can be accessed in smaller loads, which means demand surges can be handled more efficiently. Cost benefits are achieved through efficient fuel usage and by reducing delays.
A multimodal transport solution helps partners reach sustainability targets, whether imposed within the business, by customers, or by regulators. But there are benefits outside sustainability for business logistics.
Customised, sustainable transport solutions at scale
XPO's multimodal freight transport solutions help companies increase efficient transport capacity, and control costs. Its services are accessible across Europe, with a strong presence in the southern and western regions. However, operations extend to Poland and North Morocco. XPO provides door-to-door service across seven continental corridors and seven short sea connections in this region.
Its solutions engineering team also identifies volume pooling and counterflow opportunities for efficient, cost-effective results. An in-house team of experts offers services tailored to each industry, from retail and e-commerce to healthcare, aerospace, automotive, and more.
Tracking emissions enables reductions
XPO’s proprietary CO2 Emissions Dashboard allows partners to interrogate the data at all stages of the logistics journey, an essential tool to reduce emissions. Logistics had a tough time calculating this data, but not anymore. The CO2 Emissions Dashboard allows customers to calculate and monitor CO2 emissions across every aspect of their business, based on the depot, each stage of the consignment journey, and even the dispatch point, with weekly, monthly, or year-to-date views.
The report is visual and available across various countries and continents, meaning customers can optimise heat maps and trend graphs to drive different emission reduction strategies. This facilitates a fully collaborative process that creates environmental benefits from taking a sustainable transport position. It is the ultimate way for the partnership to benefit not only each company, but every customer too.