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TRANSPORT AND DISTRIBUTION

The Partnership is a growing business, with more shops across a wider area and more home deliveries, so it is not surprising that our owned and contracted fleet generated 4% more CO2e emissions last year. However, against our target to reduce transport CO2e emissions by 15% relative to turnover, we have made an improvement of 2.4% since last year and 6.3% since our 2005/06 baseline. We still face some challenges in meeting our 2013 target but we remain committed to reducing the environmental impact of our operations.

Driving efficiencies

Driving fewer miles and doing so more efficiently are the best ways for us to reduce our transport emissions. Our logistics and distribution operations already use computerised route planning, forward and backhauling on otherwise empty vehicles on outward or return journeys and ‘load consolidation’ to avoid unnecessary journeys.

Our efforts to improve driver efficiency include the Driver CPC (Certificate of Professional Competence) and in-cab telematics to help drivers and managers to assess driving styles and fuel efficiency. This alone could save 4.6 tonnes of CO2 per vehicle every year – equivalent to 4%.

We were pioneers in the adoption of multi-deck trucks. Most trucks for John Lewis are multi-decks and we’re now expanding their use to Waitrose. We will introduce the first of our multi-temperature multi-decks for carrying fresh and frozen produce this year. Generally, two multi-decks will replace the use of three conventional trucks, giving rise to a significant CO2e saving.

Our trucks have a range of features to reduce drag and improve fuel efficiency, and future developments include extending the use of sophisticated software modelling to optimise the aerodynamics of our vehicles.

Alternative fuels

Our aim is to devise a cohesive, long-term fuel policy using a range of technologies with the potential to become cost-effective alternatives to fossil fuels. Having conducted initial research, we are currently exploring the carbon reduction potential, projected availability and cost of a range of low-carbon technologies and alternative fuels. In the short term, we’ll be using PPO (Pure Plant Oil) and biomethane.

PPO from locally grown rapeseed produces 60% less CO2 emissions than diesel and is the most effective liquid fuel for carbon reduction available today. It is currently being trialled in seven vehicles and we also plan to test PPO–diesel mixes. There are still some uncertainties with widespread use of PPO, including the degree of food crop displacement and the price. Therefore, we will extend the use of PPO to reduce emissions for now, but will seek alternatives to replace it in the longer term. Those in the early stages of evaluation include jatropha, an oil-rich seed, and bio-ethanol from myscanthus grass. Although both can be grown on poor soil in water-scarce areas, thereby avoiding land used for food crops, they remain unproven for large-scale use.

In addition, we have ordered five electric vehicles for home deliveries in London. Although they will provide valuable research data, electric vehicles will not make a large impact on our overall CO2e emissions as they have a limited capacity and range, and are not suitable for longdistance haulage. In time, we expect various types of hybrid vehicle to be used for home deliveries and through our trials of first generation hybrid commercial vehicles, we are actively contributing to their development.


(Photo of Justin Laney)

Justin Laney

General Manager, Central Transport

"In many ways, our fleet is already industry leading in carbon reduction, but we need to keep pushing for improvement. To that end, we have several pilot projects either running or in the final stages of planning. We are committed to working with others, including vehicle manufacturers, legislators and planning authorities, to be at the forefront of developments in both emerging technologies and robust carbon reporting in transport."


6.3%

Reduction in relative transport CO2e emissions since 2005/06

65,657 tonnes

Transport and distribution CO2e emissions in 2009/10, 12.7% of our total emissions (see page 25)