Brambles continues progress towards its 2020 Sustainability Goals

The Group’s 2018 Sustainability Review shows ongoing improvements in making customers’ supply chains more efficient, safer and sustainable

 

Sydney, Australia, 27 September 2018 – Brambles, the global supply-chain logistics company operating in more than 60 countries, primarily through the CHEP and IFCO brands, has published its Sustainability Review for the 2018 Financial Year (FY18). Pioneering a new way of reporting, this year Brambles has used
The International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC)’s[1] six capitals framework, grouped under: financial, manufactured, intellectual, human, social and relationship, and natural capital, to describe the different ways the Group creates value in the short, medium and long term.

Brambles helps move more goods to more people, in more places than any other organisation on earth. The Group’s purpose is to connect people with life’s essentials, working with manufacturers, suppliers and retailers, overseeing the whole supply chain: from the farm to the factory, from the shop floor to the front door.

The Sustainability Review includes updates on CHEP and IFCO’s sustainability programme and its progress towards its 2020 Sustainability Goals. These goals are based on the company’s Better Business, Better Planet, Better Communities, sustainability programme and are closely aligned with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

 

Examples of Brambles’ achievements reported in the 2018 Sustainability Review include:

• Better Business– Making customers’ supply chains more efficient and investing in a safe, inclusive work environment where our employees can develop.

Brambles operates a circular business model, specialising in sharing and reusing unit load equipment. Our
610 million assets are continuously in motion, across 60 countries. In FY18 customers’ use of CHEP and IFCO platforms saved 1.7 million trees, 2.6 million metric tonnes of CO₂ emissions and 1.4 million metric tonnes of solid waste. Brambles also engaged on collaboration projects with over 240 customers, through its unique transport optimisation programmes, which removed inefficiencies and saved fuel and carbon emissions from the world’s supply chains.

To create a Better Workplace, Brambles is committed to achieving its goal of Zero Harm. The company made notable progress towards that goal with both the CHEP and IFCO business units improving their safety performance in FY18.

• Better Planet– Reducing the environmental impact of Brambles’ own operations.

In FY18, 99.4% of the timber used by CHEP came from certified sources with 66.1% carrying complete Chain-of-Custody certification. Brambles also diverted 100% of its plastic waste from its largest managed sites and 89% of its wood waste from landfills. This includes recycling more than 18,600 tonnes of end-of-life plastic materials. In Europe, reclaimed plastic was recycled into new IFCO reusable plastic crates. Brambles operations also achieved a reduction in carbon emissions per unit to a FY18 accumulated figure of (15.6)% with more than 20% of the electricity it consumed coming from renewable sources.

• Better Communities– Positively contributing to the communities in which Brambles operates.

Brambles continues its assistance for food rescue organisations, including a commitment to support the
Food Bank Leadership Institute (FBLI). The FBLI is a professional development programme that helps nurture the Food Bank leaders of tomorrow. Brambles creates Better Communities through in-kind equipment donations, financial support and by facilitating volunteering opportunities for employees. All permanent Brambles, IFCO and CHEP employees have access to three days of paid volunteer leave every year. In total, Brambles’ FY18 community investments amounted to US$4,743,000, a 4% increase from FY17.Brambles’ Head of Global Sustainability, Juan Jose Freijo, said: “following engagement with key stakeholders, we decided to adopt a more integrated method to communicate how Brambles creates value for our customers, our communities and our employees. For example, we can show investors how our circular share and reuse business model maintains our products to their highest value for as long as possible while regenerating the key resources we depend on, and reutilising these materials at end-of-life”.

“Our commitment to sustainability is at the very heart of everything we do. Our pallets, crates and containers form the invisible backbone of the global supply chain. As pioneers of the sharing economy and thanks to our share and reuse model, we have created one of the world’s most sustainable logistics business. Together with our partners, we solve shared challenges from fighting food waste to protecting forests. That is how we can make a real contribution to a smarter, more sustainable future”.

In 2018, Brambles has been ranked amongst the top two performing companies in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) in the Commercial Services and Supplies industry category.

[1] The International Integrated Reporting Council (“the IIRC”) is a global coalition of regulators, investors, companies, standard setters, the accounting profession and NGOs. The coalition is promoting communication about value creation as the next step in the evolution of corporate reporting to align capital allocation and corporate behaviour to wider goals of financial stability and sustainable development through the cycle of integrated reporting and thinking.