The LEAN and GREEN family has four new members
The sustainable logistics label LEAN and GREEN is gaining in importance in Luxembourg with four new winners. Cargolux, GN Transport, Offergeld and Transalliance have been honoured on Tuesday, June 28 2016 at the award ceremony. The participants of the second edition of LEAN and GREEN program in Luxembourg pledged to find measures that enable them to reduce their ecological footprint. (Check out more pictures of the event and the winners above)
The award has been handed by the Minister of Sustainable Development and Infrastructures Mr François Bausch in the presence of Mr Nico Anten, head of the Dutch foundation Connekt. For Mr Bausch, „the CO2 emissions which are saved over the lifetime of the LEAN and GREEN program by these four companies are an important contribution to the Government’s ambitious CO2 emission goals. Next to energy production for households, transport is a major contributor to CO2 emissions in today’s world be it private or goods transport. This program developed with the support of the Ministry for Sustainable Development and Infrastructure empowers future orientated businesses in transport and logistics and shows that ecological behaviour actually makes real business sense.”
The Award ceremony was held with the support of the company ProGROUP in the Solarwind building in Windhof, an office building with triple environmental certification. The building meets the highest standards of sustainable development and is ideal for handing out an ecological award like LEAN and GREEN.
The public-private network Connekt took the opportunity to unveil new programs such as LEAN and GREEN Europe and a label dedicated to the aviation sector. The program ambassadors CHEP, AB Inbev, HP, Heineken and Unilever launched the programme, dedicated to transborder collaboration in Europe. As from 1 July 2016, companies can achieve their Lean & Green Award for sustainable logistics at a European level, eventually aiming at five Lean & Green Stars for zero emissions in logistics. Lean & Green Ambassador Christophe Campe, VP Country General Manager at CHEP Deutschland GmbH: “Lean and Green Europe is a further step change in the development of this successful program that currently already operates on an important international scale. It will further enable the exchange of best practices, provide opportunities for benchmarking and facilitate in takes of new partners. The international ecosystem of the participants, knowledge institutes, standardization bodies and Connekt underpins the passion for the sustainability and cost efficiency targets.”
The sponsors Goldbeck, Goodyear and ProGROUP are also founding partners of the new Club LEAN and GREEN launched by the Manager for Logistics Cluster, Mr Malik Zeniti. The new club is open to all companies that want to enhance their ecological footprint. The club is aimed to help participants and service providers to share best practices, i.e.: tire usage, alternative fuels, multimodal projects or transport optimisation systems.
The four winners in a nutshell:
Cargolux is a front-runner of the LEAN and GREEN Aviation programme and presented a plan which foresees a CO2 reduction by 11% over five years. This performance is possible by an increase in tonne-km, route optimization and operational initiatives to reduce fuel consumption. “Since its beginnings in 1970, Cargolux Airlines is known as a pioneer in the airfreight industry, constantly exploring new markets; new, innovative products and new ways of pushing the boundaries of this industry,” says Dirk Reich, President & CEO of Cargolux Airlines. “Now, true to its pioneering spirit, Cargolux is the first airline worldwide to achieve the LEAN and GREEN award. As the Global Cargo Carrier of Choice, we are very proud to lead the field once more and hope we can encourage others in our industry to follow. Our customers and logistics partners, the major forwarders of this world, are well aware of the LEAN and GREEN program and appreciate our efforts. Being LEAN and GREEN certainly gives Cargolux a competitive advantage and underlines our commitment to always deliver the highest service excellence.”
GN Transport Group, a transportation company of Swedish origin that is active in Luxembourg and France, is engaged in the project to identify the CO2 emissions within the company and reduce them by setting clear targets. For the director of the Luxembourg subsidiary, Martin Rudensjö, the label not only demonstrates the sustainable development effort with customers but also motivates employees within the company. To reach its planned reduction of 23.83% over five years, the group wants in particular to operate 15% of its traffic between Lubeck and Luxembourg multimodal train.
The director of the company Offergeld Luxembourg, Martin Weidemann presented the company plan which includes a 22.96% reduction over five years. The company expects a 100% renewal of the fleet to Euro 6 standard and will train all drivers in eco-driving. For Mr. Weidemann, "Luxembourg shares the ambitions and targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. We want by participating in the LEAN and GREEN program to build momentum to achieve our goals and encourage more players to participate." The German company Offergeld opened its Luxembourg subsidiary in 1982.
For Transalliance, sustainable development and environmental conservation has always been at the heart of the operations and the company's concerns, explains Claude Lecomte, International & Development Managing Director. The company planned to reduce its CO2 emissions by 21.6% by working on consumption on its own fleet but also on the outsourced partners, optimizing routes and reducing unproductive kilometers, increasing its modal share. Cleaner trucks and special gas stations will support the efforts as well: their clean energy station just opened on June 21 in Fléville-devant-Nancy.
Background Information:
Under the leadership of Mr Max Nilles of the Ministry of Sustainable Development and Infrastructure, the Cluster for Logistics launched the LEAN and GREEN Label in Luxembourg in 2014 in order to promote a reduction in CO2 emissions in companies with logistics activities. The LEAN and GREEN label is issued by the Dutch non-governmental organization Connekt. It is one of the most recognized in Europe and it has therefore a great value in terms of image and recognition of the efforts for sustainable development, as 2.4 bn tons of freight enter via Benelux every year.
To obtain the Lean and Green Award, companies must present an ambitious CO2 reduction plan: logistics companies should be able to save at least 20% and airlines should reduce their emissions by 10% over five years and show commitment to the program. The plans will be presented on Tuesday and companies now have three to five years to achieve the ambitious goals. Meanwhile, companies will be audited and when the goal is achieved, the participants will get the final label: the LEAN and GREEN Star. In Europe, the program has over 400 participants and more than a hundred stars have already been issued. The winning companies will join Arthur Welter Tuesday, CFL multimodal, LuxairCargo and POST - they have obtained the label in 2015 - as ambassadors of LEAN and GREEN program in Luxembourg.
