A UK-based transport and logistics company has become the first in the country to be certified as carbon neutral.
Mobile People Powered Logistics (Mobile PPL) has been certified as a carbon neutral business under UN ISO 14064. This makes it, the directors believe, the only independent operator in the UK currently and the first independent haulier and palletised delivery business in England and Wales, to achieve this goal.
The business, headquartered in Birmingham and with a distribution and logistics centre in Aylesbury, focuses on high-quality supply chain solutions for palletised freight distribution, haulage, warehousing and fulfilment. With a team of more than 120 people and 60 owned vehicles covering all key industrial regions within the UK mainland, the company handles over 300,000 shipments per annum through its shareholding in Pallet-Track, and its own haulage and distribution fleet.
For the past five years Mobile PPL has been operating under the ISO14001 environment management framework, which has dictated decision making on everything from machinery and equipment to warehousing and administration, to reduce emissions and stay within the criteria.
The company first started its journey to carbon neutrality in 2022 by understanding customer expectations and framing that against internal ambitions and motivations. The process was completed at the end of March 2023 through its partnership with Carbon Neutral Britain, a UK offsetting programme. This allows Mobile PPL to offset its environmental impact by investing in projects to remove carbon dioxide and greenhouse gases from the atmosphere.
Mobile PPL aims to be a Zero Emissions business by 2037. The company hopes that others in the industry will follow suit, thereby creating the necessary demand to accelerate research and investment in more sustainable technology for the haulage sector. Current technology does not allow any national haulage and distribution business to be zero emissions.
The Mobile PPL Environment Pledge: Each year, we will report our emissions data to show our progress and areas for improvement; We will dedicate time and resource to researching sustainable technologies and update our procurement process to make sustainability one of our key purchase motivators and we will lead the sector in being open and transparent about the environmental challenges the industry faces, and encourage our suppliers, partners and peers to join us.
“Transparency has always been a key component of the Mobile Genetics, as has a commitment to supporting the communities within which we operate through employment opportunities, charitable initiatives and sponsorship of local sports teams,” Matthew Marriott, managing director of Mobile PPL, said.
“The process of becoming Carbon Neutral has been a challenge, given the margins that we operate at, however we felt it was important to make a stance and let our actions do the talking. We wanted to fund this ourselves not by dressing it up as a ‘green tax’ passed onto clients, in the hope that our position on this issue will motivate and inspire others to join us.”
Ian Jolly, Mobile PPL business director, added: “We have always felt that we can and should have a demonstrable impact on the environment and that this is our moral responsibility as a business that, by its nature, generates a large carbon footprint. We’re very pleased to have been certified, however the real journey starts now. Our commitment to the Mobile PPL Environment Pledge feels like a pivotal moment for the company as we show how serious we are about taking action and leading the sector in doing so. We’re an independent, family-run business, without shareholders to appease, and this has allowed us to take a bet on this initiative and go with our gut instinct.”
