During the 2020 calendar year, Convoy — a digital freight network company that is already carbon-neutral — helped customers save 1.6 million pounds in carbon emissions. From mid-2019 to Dec. 31, 2020, Convoy’s emissions savings totaled 2.19 million pounds of CO2.
Encouraged by its progress, Convoy has a significantly larger goal in 2021. It wants to save 3 million pounds of CO2 emissions by the end of the year.
The company announced its intentions in releasing its first corporate sustainability report Tuesday.
“Sustainability is core to our company culture and baked into our mission of reaching zero unnecessary waste in transportation. We look forward to building on this for years to come,” Dan Lewis, co-founder and CEO of Convoy, said in a release.
The 2020 “Ship Responsibly” report said Convoy will continue to operate with net-zero scope 1, scope 2 and scope 3 emissions by decarbonizing and purchasing carbon offsets to compensate for leftover emissions in addition to improving truck drivers’ lives and helping customers reach their sustainability goals.
Trucker and social impacts
Convoy is trying to improve the lives of truckers by making it easier to find loads and avoid empty miles. Truckers, carriers and the environment suffer from environmental, economic or time losses due to empty miles.
The report said that annually 61 billion out of 175 billion trucking miles in the U.S. are empty, and those empty miles result in 87 million metric tons of CO2 emissions. Convoy’s automated reloads technology prevented 465,892 miles of empty driving among its customers in 2020, according to the report.
Along with its own diversity and inclusion efforts, Convoy is striving to help inclusive suppliers and carriers grow their business. It is also involved in several programs to better serve communities in need. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Convoy delivered personal protective equipment to health care workers and goods from large food retailers to Feeding America locations across the country.
The Climate Pledge
This sustainability report follows Convoy’s recent commitment to The Climate Pledge, which was co-founded by Amazon and Global Optimism.
The 105 signatories of The Climate Pledge, including Uber, Neste, JetBlue and Convoy, agreed to regularly report their greenhouse gas emissions, implement decarbonization strategies and purchase credible carbon offsets to reach net-zero emissions by 2040.
This pledge is 10 years ahead of the Paris Agreement’s goal for net-zero emissions by 2050.
“We empower the freight industry to ship responsibly and create efficiencies in trucking, helping our customers and communities meet their environmental goals. Convoy is proud to sign The Climate Pledge and support real carbon-reducing actions, and we will continue to work to achieve our mission to transport the world with endless capacity and zero waste,” Lewis said in a statement.
Click here for more FreightWaves articles by Alyssa Sporrer.
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