Kuehne + Nagel extends 2030 net-zero carbon goal to include suppliers, contractors

Dive Brief:

Kuehne + Nagel pledged to reach full carbon neutrality by 2030 in its sustainability report released Monday. The new target incorporates contracted services and purchases for the first time, adding nearly 60 times the emissions to measure and manage compared to its previous goal of achieving net-zero carbon emissions across its own operations, set in 2010, which it will meet this year.
The first step in extending its net-zero carbon goal to contractors and suppliers, also called scope 3, will be to make all less-than-container load (LCL) shipments carbon neutral this year, according to the report. The company announced this initiative last year.
Kuehne + Nagel committed to the Science-based Targets Initiative (SBTi) in March, which gives the carrier one year to formally submit emissions reduction targets for approval.

Dive Insight:

Scopes 1 and 2, covered by the 2010 goal, include the company's own offices and warehouses, trucks and company cars. At an estimated 0.31 million tons of CO2 together in 2019, scopes 1 and 2 represent an altogether lighter lift than this next phase of emissions reduction work the company has laid out.

Scope 3 emissions, which are at the heart of the 2030 goal, represent air, road and sea logistics, plus business travel and employee commutes. Kuehne + Nagel's estimated scope 3 emissions totaled 18.1 million tons of carbon dioxide in 2019 — or 98% of the company's total emissions. Scope 3 figures are currently estimated because the company is still working on a formal inventory, according to the report.

Companies across sectors generally address scope 3 emissions after scopes 1 and 2 since it requires external cooperation with service providers and suppliers.

"Kuehne+Nagel, as a member of the Clean Cargo initiative, is in close interaction with all major sea carriers to discuss and collaborate on air quality and ecological impacts with the carriers to further reduce the pollution emissions based on the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB)," the report reads.

Customers are part of the equation too as Kuehne + Nagel launched a Global Transport Carbon Calculator last year to help shippers choose lower-emissions routes. The carrier said it prepared carbon dioxide reports for more than 900 customers in 2019, according to the report.

CEO Detlef Trefzger also noted a link between pandemic preparedness and sustainability in the report.

"More than ever, this situation demonstrates that we have to plan for the unforeseeable. Introducing a corporate wide business continuity plan and acting accordingly has proven to be a clear act of sustainability," he wrote.