In this article, Andrew Caie, Director of Marketing, Digital & OEM Development, who leads our sustainability efforts, discusses the progress of our Europe & Africa team’s environmental activities and explores the various eco-initiatives launched across the region.

Inchcape’s established targets

As an organisation, Inchcape has set ambitious emission reduction targets that require teams worldwide to play their part and implement considerable change. Those targets centre on reducing Scope One and Scope Two emissions by 46% from their 2019 level.

Scope One emissions are the direct emissions from using, gas-fired equipment, refrigerant  gas leakage. They also include our use of company cars. On the other hand, Scope Two emissions are indirect emissions and refer to emissions associated with third-party energy production. For instance, the emissions generated by the gas or coal-fired power stations providing our electricity.

Meeting these emissions targets requires annual reductions of 5% in 2023. Success will depend on our ability to reduce emissions across the board and in all markets.

Measuring our current progress

With most of 2023 behind us, we can safely say we have made considerable progress and are delighted with the initiatives implemented. The Inchcape Estonia team is a fantastic example.

Led by Roland Raud, Country Manager, and Julia Karpenko, Business Development and Process Manager, it has successfully transitioned to renewable electricity and made various other changes. These include redirecting excess heat from the air compressor to heat the building, upgrading 75% of the lighting to LED, and replacing and repairing all air conditioning units to improve efficiency and save energy. We also expect the team’s  plans to install solar panels to save up to 66 tCO2e.

Looking ahead to 2024, the team hopes to achieve Green Office certification and develop an environmental sustainability guide for staff. This will ensure we maintain the progress and momentum acquired in 2023 over the coming year.

Making our data matter

Over the last year, we have also made considerable efforts to improve our environmental data collection and analysis capabilities. To reduce emissions, we need to better understand how we produce them on both an organisation-wide and local level. Achieving improved visibility on the extent of our controllable emissions has required considerable work from the regional teams. But it has put us in a much better position for 2024, providing us with actionable insights that will inform emission reduction strategy going forward.

Though lower than 2019 levels, the Q2 results for the Europe & Africa region show a slight increase in emissions compared with Q1. Consequently, efforts need to be made to reduce emissions throughout the rest of the year to ensure we hit our annual 5% reduction target. On a positive note, our African teams are leading the way in 2023 and posted an enormous reduction in Q2. With a coordinated effort across other markets, we believe our 2023 targets are still very much achievable.

Leveraging the data for Hotspot Analysis

One of the key ways we are leveraging our new data capabilities is through our new Hotspot Analysis tool. Hotspot Analysis enables us to identify the areas in each region responsible for the most emissions. For instance, in Europe & Africa, the primary sources of emissions are electricity and natural gas. Our biggest contributors to these emissions are lighting, heating, body shops and paint shops.

Hotspot Analysis enables us to focus our reduction efforts in a targeted and efficient manner, maximising their impact. This is already occurring. For example, in the context of the Europe & Africa region, increased use of solar panels and replacing old gas fires with cost-effective electric alternatives will have a significant impact on our main sources of emissions.

Approaching 2024 in a good place

For the Europe & Africa region, 2023 has seen us continue working towards our long-term targets and was an immensely positive year. We just initiated our first Europe & Africa Sustainability Steerco and we have our eyes on some significant new initiatives to make a flying start to 2024.

It is safe to say that we are in a good position to meet our 2023 5% target and well-placed to  deliver further saves in 2024’s . It has required hard work and dedication from all the teams within the region. But we believe the results speak for themselves and are proud of you and the teams in our region who are taking effective steps to reduce our emissions and improve our environmental footprint.

Green Glossary 

Scope 1 emissions: are the direct emissions that we own or control, such as those from electricity use, gas-fired equipment, refrigerant use or leakage, and our use of company cars, i.e., the emissions come directly from our actions in our cars and buildings – we burn the gas or fuel.

Scope 2 emissions:  These are indirect emissions and refer to emissions associated with our use of electricity.  We use electricity, but the emissions occur at a gas or coal-fired power station.  For electricity generated from renewable sources, there are no Scope 2 emissions for Inchcape.

 GHGs: Greenhouse gases (GHGs) are gases in the atmosphere that trap heat and contribute to global warming.  GHGs include carbon dioxide (CO2), methane, water vapour, nitrous oxide (which also contributes to poor air quality through particulate matter emitted by all diesel engines) and refrigerant gases.  These emissions are produced when hydrocarbons such as natural gas and oil are burned and when refrigerant gases leak from air conditioning systems.

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