Why is JDE Professional certified on the CO₂ Performance Ladder?

Bas: “JDE Professional wants to actively reduce its CO₂ footprint. We were first part of the LTA3 covenant, and in this way we worked on energy savings and CO₂ reduction. But the LTA3 covenant expired at the end of 2020, so we started to further flesh out our CO₂ reduction approach.” That the CO₂ Performance Ladder can be a successor to the LTA3 covenant has already been concluded by consultancy firm Arcadis. It now appears that the instrument already plays that role in practice.

Bas goes on to talk about JDE’s CO₂ reduction strategy: “Within JDE, a global approach is being formulated based on the Science Based Target methodology. With JDE Professional NL, the Dutch Out of Home branch of the company, we are working on reducing our CO₂ emissions. The CO₂ Performance Ladder helps us with this with concrete steps that clarify where and how we achieve CO₂ reduction.

A nice additional advantage is that in this way we can also properly implement specific requests from some of our customers, who would like to see their suppliers certified on the CO₂ Performance Ladder. ”In any case, Rijkswaterstaat has already submitted several tenders. marketed for hot drinks, with the Ladder as the award tool.

Most of JDE’s total CO₂ emissions come from scope 3 emissions (green coffee beans). A level 4 or 5 certificate would make a big impact.

Bas: “We do not yet have a clear picture of what exactly is required for a level 4 or 5 certificate, but we do not rule out that next step. For example, we are now working on initiatives to make the logistics supply chain more sustainable. Bas cites the Green Business Club Utrecht as an example:” Together with them, we entered a project to realize sustainable city logistics in the city center of Utrecht. With a number of companies around Utrecht Central Station, such as the municipality of Utrecht and pop venue Tivoli, we optimize the delivery frequency and use a so-called City Hub: combined electric transport from the edge of the city into the center. These so-called “last mile logistics” are an important key in making the logistics chain more sustainable.”

Which CO₂-reducing measures does JDE Professional take for certification at level 3 of the Ladder?

Bas: “78% of the CO₂ emissions of JDE Professional NL’s business operations come from the vehicle fleet. These are the vans of our technical department, our route sales representatives and operators who keep the coffee supply ready for operation at, for example, companies, schools and healthcare institutions. These are our most material emissions within scope 1 and 2, and our approach therefore focuses mainly on transport movements. We have focused most of our measures on that. For example, we have created an e-learning module “Efficient driving” in which 90% of our employees must participate. We are convinced that having insight into how you drive contributes to awareness, so we also share consumer reports and actively manage them. We are also working on optimally planning the routes for our services, we are using tire pressure meters and are adjusting our fleet policy to enable the transition to electric transport, for example.

Our overall objective was to have reduced CO₂ emissions by at least 5% by the end of 2020 compared to 2018. We are still investigating whether this was successful, but the first insights indicate that it is. This is probably also due to the impact of COVID-19.”

What is the influence of the stakeholders on the sustainable course of JDE?

Bas: “JDE will be listed on the Amsterdam stock exchange in 2020. This has contributed to the fact that, even more than before, we are in continuous consultation with our customers, suppliers, NGOs and other stakeholders. Good communication plays a key role in this. Since March of this year, we have therefore combined our annual report as a financial and sustainability report. In this report we provide insight into our approach to sustainability and what the concrete initiatives and results are. By reporting on progress in this way, we show that sustainability is an integrated part of our organization and is reflected in all business units and functions.”