Easydis puts its CSR commitment into practice

PORTRAIT

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The Casino Group's logistics subsidiary is contributing to its parent company's CSR commitment by committing to a 25% reduction in its transport GHG emissions by 2022, through the FRET21 scheme, which is supported by the AUTF and ADEME as part of the EVE programme.

"FRET21 is the concrete translation of a CSR commitment at group level," says Clément Lubin, director of Easydis, a subsidiary of the Casino group, which manages downstream transport flows from some twenty warehouses to the various Casino group brands, as well as reverse flows. The logistics company is committed to a 25% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from its transport operations between 2020 and 2022. This ambition is supported by the company's overall commitment to reducing its carbon footprint and also by that of its parent company, Casino, which was declared first in the ranking of European retail companies in terms of commitments to the climate, environmental protection, human resources policy and corporate governance, published in 2020 by the rating agency Vigeo Eiris, a subsidiary of Moody's. Easydis does not consider the environmental dimension as a choice but as a necessity," says Clément Lubin, Easydis Director. Taking this issue into account is an integral part of all the actions and new projects that Easydis undertakes. As these achievements must necessarily result in significant progress in this area, we have approached FRET21 to evaluate our logistics activities in an objective, precise and comparable manner . The FRET21 EVE programme has also provided an opportunity to identify the areas of improvement on which Easydis teams are now focusing.

A commitment largely driven by alternative energies
The adoption of alternative energies by its transport service providers represents the most important part of its commitment. In 2022, we are aiming to convert part of the fleet to B100, a 100% plant-based fuel, and to electricity," explains Clément Lubin. For fresh produce, we use gas and biogas for the vehicles and nitrogen or electricity for the fridges ". 76,000 of the 306,000 rounds will be carried out with B100, more than 24,000 with biogas, 6,630 with CNG and 1,225 with electricity. To achieve this objective, Easydis is supporting transporters in their transition with a commitment to the duration and volumes transported. Clément Lubin also encourages them to adopt Objective CO2. " In 2019, out of the top 20 transporters, we had 6% labelled and 1% chartered," explains the Easydis director. Our goal for 2022 is to have 65% certified and 45% chartered.

The transport plan is reviewed every day
The announced 25% reduction in GHGs can also be achieved by 2022 thanks to improved vehicle loading, achieved by optimizing the transport plan. " We work on this scheme every day, with the help of new technologies such as automation or artificial intelligence. This allows us to take the best option on a daily basis ". However, there are no easy solutions at Easydis: " Sometimes a truck can leave incomplete, but because on its way it will load other goods stored elsewhere than at its point of departure ", explains Clément Lubin. The result, however, is that fewer trucks are on the road. The same goes for empty miles, which Easydis is trying to limit by taking charge of reverse flows, thanks in particular to the Everoad contact platform. " With the company's 6,000 points of sale, we work mainly with the Casino group, but we can have other partners. Joining the EVE programme FRET21 enables us to find the right optimisation levers to reduce the carbon footprint of transport. It is also a way of exchanging best practices with other companies in the sector.