Electric vehicles supercharge Schoeller Allibert’s sustainability strategy

The electric revolution is underway. With charging infrastructure improving and their effective ranges growing every year, electric vehicles (EVs) are the clear answer to the environmental crisis caused by road transport.

EVs are already becoming a more common sight on our roads. One in 10 drivers plan to buy an electric car within the next five years. By 2030 – five years before the sale of new fossil-fuelled vehicles will be banned across Europe – the AA estimates there will be more electric than diesel cars on UK roads.

At Schoeller Allibert, sustainability is deep within our DNA. As European leader in returnable market packaging and pioneers in plastic recycling, our products help thousands of companies around their world to reduce their carbon footprints. Almost half of our fleet already comprises hybrid vehicles that run more cleanly and efficiently than fossil-fuelled alternatives.

But we know that we could do more. If things continue as they are, Schoeller Allibert’s CO2 equivalent (CO2e) emissions will rise 3% each year, potentially reaching 929,248 tons by 2035.

That’s why we are accelerating our plans for EVs.

Under our new policy, our fossil-fuelled fleet will go the way of the dinosaurs. Every vehicle we purchase is now fully electric, and EVs currently make up 8% of our fleet. In three years this will rise to 75%, with hybrid vehicles accounting for the remaining quarter.

Our Head Office, sales and management team members have already made the shift to EVs, demonstrating that they are a practical alternative to traditional or hybrid vehicles.

The benefits of this approach are clear. Unlike other vehicles, EVs produce no emissions at the tailpipe, and even including manufacturing and the energy consumed to charge them, over the course of their lifetimes they are responsible for significantly less pollution than the alternatives. Total emissions from EVs may be up to 60% lower than petrol vehicles, and as the share of renewable energy on the grid increases, this figure will continue to rise.  

Of course, no vehicle can be fully carbon neutral. Manufacturing any car produces greenhouse gases, and sadly less than half of electricity produced in the UK comes from renewable sources. The more often an EV is charged, the larger its environmental footprint. Reducing energy consumption is therefore key to getting the most out of these vehicles.

To this end, our policy encourages all employees to adopt more efficient driving techniques like conserving momentum, avoiding harsh braking, and watching their speed. We believe these measures could reduce energy consumption by at least 10% - and the potential gains could be even higher. The Energy Saving Trust claims ‘ecodriving’ techniques can cut EV energy use by almost a sixth, reducing the time needed between charges.

However, the most effective way to minimise energy use is not to make the journey at all. Schoeller Allibert’s drivers are already making 72% fewer trips than they were in 2019, and we plan to reduce this further with journeys driven on our behalf predicted to fall another 25% over the next three years.

These measures should mean that our fleet will have a maximum CO2 level of just 50 grams per kilometre we travel – almost 33% of the national average.

The transport policy is just one part of the work Schoeller Allibert is doing to reduce our carbon footprint. We will cut our type 1 and 2 emissions by 90% over the next three years, and by next year, all the energy we use will come from renewable sources.

We have already ensured that new Schoeller Allibert products on the market are fully recyclable. Almost 30% of the material we use to make our packaging is recycled, up from 21% in 2020, and by 2026 this will rise to 35%.

By 2050, we hope that our business model will have become fully circular, closing the loop on new plastic being introduced to Schoeller Allibert products.

These goals are ambitious but the need for action has never been greater. With this policy, we hope that Schoeller Allibert has taken an important step in driving forward our vision for a greener, circular future.