Glovo achieves carbon neutrality across entire value chain

 Glovo has announced that it has achieved its goal of reaching carbon neutrality. Originally setting the target in December 2019, Glovo committed to neutralising 100% of its carbon emissions across its entire value chain, achieving this just two years later at the end of 2021.

Moreover, the company has had its emissions reduction targets approved by the Science Based Targets initiative as consistent with levels required to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement, with reductions required to keep warming to well below 1.5°C.

To accomplish carbon neutrality, Glovo measured its direct and indirect CO2 emissions to get a better understanding of their source, and how much it would have to offset. Cutbacks in non-sustainable packaging and food waste led to significant reductions in emissions (1,868 tonnes CO2 equivalent in 2021). There was also increased efficiency in delivery and use of electric vehicles, with the percentage within the Glovo fleet rising by 2.24% from 2020 to 2021.

To address its remaining carbon emissions, Glovo struck an ongoing partnership with offset marketplace Pachama. This involved purchasing ‘carbon credits’ that specifically supported the Brazil Nuts Concessions and Madre de Dios forest preservation projects in Peru, and Jari Pará Forest Conservation Project in Brazil. Each combined to offset Glovo’s carbon footprint by 25% by the end of 2020 (34,321 tonnes CO2 equivalent in 2020).

Through a new partnership with South Pole in 2021, Glovo has expanded its range of compensation initiatives to cover 100% of emissions across its entire value chain (82,028 tonnes CO2 equivalent in 2021). Some of the compensation projects are located in Glovo‘s markets of operation such as Kenya and Ghana. These consist of forest preservation, sustainable agriculture, energy-efficient cookstoves, renewable energy and much more.

Glovo isn’t stopping at carbon neutrality. It has used this milestone to set even more ambitious targets, to significantly reduce its carbon emissions by 2030; including upping sustainable packaging to account for over 92% of its orders, making the bulk of its courier vehicles non-combustible, and sourcing 100% of renewable electricity for its own installations (including cookrooms, offices, micro-fulfillment centres, etc.) by 2030.

Glovo has set these emission reduction targets through the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). The targets covering greenhouse gas emissions from Glovo’s operations are consistent with reductions required to keep warming to 1.5°C and include:

• Increasing annual sourcing of renewable electricity from 7% in 2020 to 100% by 2030
• Reducing greenhouse gas emissions from its value chain (focusing mainly on food waste, packaging and transportation) by 42.12% by 2030 (with 2020 as a base year)

To achieve such ambitious targets by 2030, Glovo has set out the following strategies:

• A sustainable courier vehicle mix with more than 67% being non-combustion vehicles. Currently, 5 countries have a vehicle fleet with more than 40% non-combustion vehicles: Kyrgyzstan, Italy, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Spain
• 30% of orders to be bundled to help reduce the distance travelled by couriers
• More than 92% of orders to use sustainable packaging. In 2019, Glovo created an e-commerce for SMEs to buy sustainable packaging, enabling purchase of almost 2 million units in 2021 across Spain, Italy, Portugal, Morocco and Croatia
• 10% of orders to be delivered from food surplus, addressing food waste issues. In 2021 alone, more than 300,000kg of food waste was saved, whilst the equivalent of more than 579,000 meals were delivered through Glovo Access)

Sébastien Pellion, Head of Social Impact & Sustainability at Glovo, said: “Achieving our goal of becoming carbon neutral is the start of our climate journey at Glovo. We believe it’s the minimum any company should do to ensure they remain in business long-term on our planet. We are grateful to companies like Pachama that make it possible to offset our carbon emissions in a reliable way, thanks to their innovative technology using AI and satellite imagery to verify reliability of reforestation projects.”

“Today we are taking our action on climate change to the next level with the announcement of the validation of our carbon emission reduction targets by SBTi. This ambitious but realistic plan will enable us to decouple our growth from the carbon emissions of our entire value chain. It will ensure that climate change mitigation remains a core component of our overall strategy, and sets out a clear roadmap for all teams at Glovo to reduce their carbon footprint. We’re excited by the challenge we have ahead to transform our operations so platform companies like ours become part of the solution to limit global warming to 1.5°C by the end of the century.”