Bouncing back from lockdown: businesses need to monitor their supply chain to control their carbon footprint in light of COP26
Businesses have experienced major disruption to trading over the past 18 months, with many grocery and FMCG companies reporting a sharp shift to ecommerce sales. Since the start of the pandemic, 66% of non-grocery businesses experienced decreased sales through physical channels in favour of online (due to enforced lockdowns).
With an increased need to transport goods directly to consumers and with many manufacturers and suppliers needing to prioritise business-critical decisions over environmental concerns throughout the pandemic, it is anticipated that many of these organisation’s emissions, across the UK, will be drastically worse than originally thought.
Concerningly, whilst up to 90% of a business’s carbon footprint can be attributed to its supply chain, nearly two thirds (64%) of grocery and FMCG businesses currently have no plans in place at all to take any action to reduce its environmental impact. This suggests that many businesses are either unwilling or unsure of where to start to tackle their organisation’s carbon footprint and with the COP26 summit around the corner, business leaders will be reminded that this action is needed, and fast.
With this in mind, Rob Wright, executive director at leading supply chain and logistics consultancy, SCALA, discusses how businesses must take a multi-faceted approach to control their carbon footprint. The piece will explore how organisations, in light of the upcoming COP26 summit, can make improvements to their supply chain’s environmental footprint by updating packaging, increasing vehicle loads, as well as optimising vehicle journeys to reduce these overall carbon emissions.
