Under pressure from investors, large companies and corporations are raising their expectations for certified carbon-neutral transportation. This trend is particularly visible in the case of urban mobility, business travel and last-mile deliveries.
Investor and government requirements around decarbonization are becoming more stringent, while at the same time, compliance and transparency regulations around companies’ environmental impact are increasing in number and scope.
The pressure to comply with environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria is real, particularly for large companies backed by institutional investors.
Beyond supporting investors in identifying and mitigating environmental, social and governance risks, ESG performance is correlated with value creation for shareholders. It is becoming increasingly clear that companies with a strong ESG performance tend to be more efficient, less wasteful, more productive and enjoy more commitment from employees, which makes them more attractive to both capital and talent.
Employees’ urban mobility
Large companies have identified a low-hanging fruit to begin identifying and mitigating ESG risks: their employees’ and directors’ urban and metropolitan commute, particularly by taxi.
Luckily for the HR and sustainability managers of these corporations, some taxi operators have begun integrating advanced digital services of high added value for their corporate clients. The operators and their mobile apps are starting to report on the carbon footprint of their rides.
One example of this sustainable urban mobility trend is Cabify, an app operating in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Spain, Mexico, Peru and Uruguay. Since 2020, this ride-sharing operator has been sending yearly certificates guaranteeing CO2 emission offsetting to its corporate and institutional clients registered on its Cabify for Business (C4B).
Thanks to ClimateTrade’s technological support, Cabify’s urban mobility app can offer its thousands of corporate clients in eight countries the digital tools they need to implement more sustainable corporate policy, and to pursue a traceable corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategy around the urban mobility of their employees.
This trend has been mentioned in various international forums attended by ClimateTrade, such as the Leadership Summit on Mobility Sustainability and Digitization that took place in Seville in November 2021.
Business travel
Business travel agencies serving large corporations and public organizations have also started their journey towards better environmental practices in their B2B services.
These agencies, which specialize in managing flights, accommodation, car rentals, transport and events, are beginning to offer high added value services to their corporate clients, starting with the voluntary offset of business trips’ carbon footprint.
Proof of this growing demand, Spain’s business travel association GEBTA is integrating ClimateTrade’s digital solutions to generate CO2 offsetting certificates for the business trips its members organize. With this initiative, travel agencies are supporting their own CSR strategy, as well as their corporate and institutional clients’.
Last mile delivery
Urban and long-distance logistics and delivery operators are becoming more aware of their own shortfalls around managing the ESG risks of their activities. They are starting to collect environmental data for their delivery vehicle fleets and preparing to share carbon footprint data with their end clients, particularly in the B2B sphere.
Operators are also working internally with their operations and digitization managers to incorporate solutions such as APIs and widgets, allowing them to manage relevant data and create a B2B space and a shared dashboard with their clients to monitor the carbon footprint of deliveries.
With ClimateTrade’s technological support, some logistics companies in Latin America (Colombia, Mexico, Chile) are starting to innovate in this area, with the goal of dramatically improving the quality of their B2B services.
In 2022, these operators are expected to announce the first premium B2B services including the automated generation of carbon-neutral delivery certificates guaranteeing the offset of each delivery’s CO2 emissions.
ClimateTrade’s digital solutions
In the coming years, all products will be benchmarked by CO2, and consumers will know exactly how much they pollute before buying them, which will influence their purchasing habits.
Carbon-neutral products and services are a necessity. But making it happen is easier said than done. It requires automated carbon footprint calculation and a reliable platform to give customers full visibility on where the carbon credits are generated.
ClimateTrade helps companies to fulfil their most ambitious carbon offsetting commitments, empowering their sustainability strategy with our innovative digital solutions.
After noticing the trend towards carbon-neutral products and services, we developed the ClimateTrade API, the first API REST that can be easily and securely integrated into the companies’ systems for them to be able to offer their own customers the possibility of acquiring carbon-neutral products and services during the purchase process.
And this month, we launched the ClimateTrade Widget, a tool with similar functionalities, but an even easier integration process, making it ideally suited for SMEs and organizations with limited IT resources.
The ClimateTrade API and Widget provide customers with information about the carbon footprint of their purchases and offer them the opportunity to invest in sustainable projects while offsetting it. Explore our case studies to find out how we have implemented these solutions for international clients.
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Article written by Francisco Martín, Head of Engineering and International Key Account Manager at ClimateTrade.
