Joe Hurst, Transport Sustainability Lead at Nestlé UK & Ireland, spoke at the Reuters Sustainable Road Transport Europe 2024 in Amsterdam last week to talk about the importance of collective action and experimentation in the move towards a more sustainable future for transport.
Joe discussed the progress Nestlé has made in the UK & Ireland to reduce the environmental impact of our transport operations, and what the team has learnt along the way.
To date, Nestlé’s owned HGV fleet in the UK & Ireland is now 100% diesel free, running on Bio-LNG, Hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) and electricity. We’ve also started to work with our third-party hauliers to help them transition to their own alternative fuels.
However, Joe acknowledged that we are still only part-way through our journey and emphasised our commitment to accelerate our progress towards our target to half greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050.
Test and learn
Reflecting on the event, Joe highlighted the need to put effective transition plans in place for the move to electric vehicles (EVs).
He said: “There’s unlikely to be a single ‘golden bullet’ solution that will help us reach our goals. Different types of fuel or modes of transport each have their benefits and limitations. So, it’s important for us to keep exploring a wide variety of new, alternative options.”
“We’ve been trialling EVs in our fleet and so far we’ve had positive results. We’re very much in the ‘test and learn’ phase, where we’re still collecting data to find out how they can be deployed most effectively and efficiently. They’ve proven effective for fixed journeys, although further development in infrastructure technology will be required before they become a feasible option over longer distances.
“That’s where HVO is proving useful – it is further along the road in terms of development and can help us to reduce our emissions in the immediate future while we test and hone the use of EVs and other technologies.”
Nestlé has also been trialling rail freight and has had a regular flow of loads to a key customer in place since July 2023.
Joe outlined the importance of analysing the data and insight from different trials to identify the role each mode of transport can play.
Collaboration is key
While acknowledging the importance of the steps Nestlé has taken in its direct operations, Joe explained that decarbonisation can’t be delivered by any one business or organisation in isolation.
At Nestlé, more than 90% of our emissions in the UK & Ireland are Scope 3, resulting from our value chain. This can be a challenge as we work with more than 20 different hauliers, but we are starting to take steps in the right direction: 12% of our third-party haulier operations will be non-diesel by the end of the year, and we’re aiming to increase that to 20% by the end of 2025.
Joe added: “The climate crisis is the biggest challenge we face as an industry, and we need to bold in our efforts to reduce our environmental impact. Being willing to try something new, analysing the results, and sharing our learnings across the industry is going to help us to unlock the best solutions.”
