Eroski recognised for its sustainable logistics
Spain’s Association of Manufacturers and Distributors (AECOC) has awarded Eroski its second Lean & Green star for having achieved the goal of reducing its CO2 emissions in logistics and transport processes by more than 30% in 2021, one year earlier of the term established by the initiative. The Basque cooperative has reduced emissions by 32.41% compared to the base year 2015.
This has involved an uninterrupted process of improvements in its logistics processes to minimise its environmental impact, a process encompassing four major areas of action: increased vehicle filling and reduction in kilometres, renewal of the fleet with less polluting vehicles, new more sustainable logistics platforms and improvement of energy efficiency in existing ones.
“Since achieving the first Lean & Green star, in just two years we have managed to reduce CO2 emissions from our logistics processes to almost 33%. This means avoiding more than 36,000 tons of CO2 equivalent emissions,” said the Director of Innovation, ICTs and Logistics at Eroski, Enrique Monzonis.
The distribution company won the award for the Lean & Green project in 2018, which certified its action plan to achieve a reduction of that percentage with respect to 2015 emissions. The first Lean & Green star for having exceeded the objective of reducing 20 % of its CO2 emissions in logistics and transport processes reached the end of 2020, having achieved a 25% reduction in 2019, one year before the deadline.
Director of Innovation, ICTs and Logistics at Eroski, Enrique Monzonis, said “We are developing a complete programme of actions focused on efficiency and sustainability. The efficiency of our logistics processes and the configuration of the platforms play a key role in it. On the one hand, from transport we are undertaking a major renewal of the fleet, betting on less polluting alternative vehicles (megatrucks, electric vehicles, Euro VI…), combined with an improvement in efficiency through collaboration with suppliers, increased fill and reduced kilometers empty. We are also committed to sustainable construction and more energy-efficient equipment with less environmental impact, such as LED lighting, photovoltaic installations, presence detectors, temperature robots, the use of non-polluting refrigerant gases and the use of natural light to improve the energy efficiency of the platforms. In addition, we have a waste management model based on the principles of the circular economy.”
Eroski, along with 15 other companies in the consumer sector, leads Lean & Green, the largest European collaboration platform specifically aimed at reducing emissions associated with the supply chain, which already has almost a hundred member companies. It is an international and intersectoral initiative whose objective, in addition to helping companies reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, is to help them aspire to a quantifiable objective, collaborate with other companies both at a national and European level, share good practices and be a benchmark for sustainability with a transparent and traceable monitoring system.
