Pallet pooler announces net-zero target following first sustainability report

Published by

Peter Davison

IPP announces ambitious net-zero target as it publishes its first sustainability report

IPP Pooling has published its first sustainability report as it sets ambitious company-wide targets to become net-zero by 2045.

The Coventry-based pallet pooler, which is one of Europe’s leading poolers of sustainable wooden pallets, will improve the sustainability of its operations with an ambitious ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) strategy.

It has identified key areas where efforts will be concentrated to reduce carbon emissions and increase the circularity of its pallets.

These include the reduction of transport emissions, which it aims to reduce by 30 per cent, per trip by 2030, and the increase of sustainable procurement, with a minimum of 80 per cent of wood to be verified sustainable by 2025.
The key targets were identified following a full audit of IPP’s operation, which highlighted how 85 per cent of its current carbon footprint comes from its materials and transportation.

Extending the usage and longevity of its pallets is a priority for IPP; it has reduced the number of pallets that are lost from its pool, and improved the lifespan of its pallet via repair and maintenance.

Shelley Harris, commercial director at IPP, said: “We have carefully selected areas that offer us the opportunity to make the most impact on reducing our carbon footprint and those of our customers.

“We recognise that our sustainability journey is ongoing and requires continuous improvement, and we will continue to review our plans to address the most significant sustainability issues within our industry.

“Our future digitalisation plans will also help us to reach our net-zero target; by capturing supply chain data, we will be able to work with our customers to improve their processes, supporting their sustainability goals and our own.”

To support its journey to net-zero, IPP has developed an international Sustainability Community within its organisation to further integrate its practices across all departments, with sustainability drivers appointed to create change on a local level.

James Goode, head of logistics at IPP, has been appointed to the role of sustainability driver to keep UK operations on target.

He added: “Since transport is responsible for a big share of our footprint, we are working on several initiatives to reduce transport emissions by improving efficiency, increasing utilisation rates and also by optimising our transport network.”

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IPP, which is part of the Faber Group, provides reusable pallet and box pooling services across Europe for fast moving consumer goods and industrial supply chains, operating a pay-per-use model over ownership.

In 2022, Faber Group’s total load carrier movements increased by 13 million to approximately 125 million, from 112 million in 2021.

To read the Faber Group Sustainability Report 2022 visit https://wearesomeone.viewer.foleon.com/faber-group/sustainability-report-2022-en/.

Peter Davison

Peter Davison is deputy editor of The Business Magazine. He has spent his life in journalism – doing work experience in newsrooms in and around Bristol while still at school, and landing his first job on a local newspaper aged 19. By 28 he was the youngest newspaper editor in the country. An early advocate of online news, he spent the first years of the 2000s telling his bosses that the internet posed both the biggest opportunity and greatest threat to the newspaper industry and the art of journalism. He was right on both counts. Since 2006 he has enjoyed a career as a freelance journalist. He lives in rural Wiltshire with one wife, two children, and three cats.