Brambles’ 2022 Sustainability Review: on track to deliver on its 2025 targets

Brambles, the global supply chain solutions company operating in approximately 60 countries through the CHEP brand, has released its annual Sustainability Review, which reports on its material Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) issues and achievements for the financial year ending 30 June 2022.

Brambles’ 2025 Sustainability targets and ambition to ‘Pioneer Regenerative Supply Chains’ are based on a ‘Planet Positive, Business Positive and Communities Positive’ strategy. Two years into the programme, Brambles’ Sustainability Review highlights tangible achievements[1], which show great progress towards a regenerative future:

• Despite global supply chain disruptions and scarcity of lumber supply, Brambles has maintained 100% sourcing from certified sustainable forests and has also increased its sustainable Chain-of-Custody by three points to 72%;
• Progress against Brambles’ new decarbonisation targets, which the company announced in June 2022, includes a 4.52% emissions reduction (versus FY20) for its science-based targets across its value chain
  (Scopes 1, 2 and 3), and a pathway to achieving net-zero emissions by 2040, ten years earlier than the deadline set by the Paris Climate Agreement;
• 33% of management roles at Brambles are now held by women, demonstrating progress against our ‘Worklace Positive’ targets, which includes rolling out inclusivity, wellbeing-at-work and accessibility initiatives, as well as a commitment to at least 40% of management roles being held by women and doubling the number of women in its plants by 2025;
• Brambles is also independently rated as a Top Employer® in 21 countries and across five continents, illustrating the company’s commitment to its staff and to creating an inclusive and rewarding work environment. Brambles’ ambition is to be recognised as a Global Top Employer;
• Brambles continues to deliver to communities. ‘Communities Positive’ is the third pillar of the
  2025 sustainability strategy and is essential for Brambles’ wider, positive contribution to society. Its global collaboration with food banks helped more than 16 million people in need through in-kind equipment donations and volunteering activities. Moreover, the CHEP Poland Communities Positive volunteers supported Ukrainian refugees by organising shelters and gathering supplies; and
• Brambles continues to improve efficiencies and reduce environmental impact through collaboration. The company collaborated with 370 customers during the year across a range of more than
  1,400 initiatives, showing significant progress against the target to double the number of customer collaborations from 250 to 500 by 2025.

Brambles’ Chief Sustainability Officer, J.J. Freijo, said: “Two years ago, we started a new phase of our sustainability programme, one based on an inspiring and challenging vision, to create a regenerative supply chain. Today, we can proudly announce that, step by step, this vision is becoming a reality. The regenerative ambition is now being adopted by a community of companies leading on sustainability, who recognise the need for a positive approach and believe that damage reduction is no longer enough.

“In challenging times like these, the key to achiving a truly regenerative supply chain is integration. By working together with all the functions in our business, our suppliers and our customers, we have been able to remove barriers and improve agility, helping us to progress even further towards our 2025 targets. Therefore, it is essential that we keep putting sustainability on the agenda to create new value for our business and customers while protecting the planet.”

Brambles’ ‘share and reuse’ model already offers many environmental savings to customers’ supply chains in comparison to single-use alternatives. In the last year, Brambles’ solutions have helped its customers achieve the following savings[2]:

• 5 million metric tonnes of CO₂ – equivalent to the CO₂ emitted by approximately 473,00 homes in one year;
• 4,470 megalitres of water – or approximately 1,788 Olympic sized pools;
• 2 million cubic metres of wood;
• 1 million trees; and
• 5 million tonnes of waste.

Brambles is recognised as a global leader in sustainability

Brambles’ sustainability credentials and performance continue to be recognised as world leading. The Dow Jones Sustainability World Index ranked Brambles the second most sustainable company in its industry category, and Corporate Knights rated the company 10th in their Global 100 list of most sustainable corporations in the world. Moreover, MSCI awarded Brambles the maximum AAA rating in its ESG assessment and ranked the company in the top 8% of all companies assessed. Equally, the CDP gave the company a A- in its Forests submission.

The Group also achieved an overall A- rating in the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s Circular Economy Assessment Tool, Circulytics, and was an inaugural recipient of the Terra Carta Seal, which recognises global corporations that are demonstrating their commitment to the creation of genuinely sustainable markets.

^[1] Brambles uses the services of KPMG Limited to provide limited assurance on key elements of its Sustainability Review.

[2] Equivalence provided by the United States Environmental Protection Agency.