SEATTLE — Digital freight network Convoy on May 4 released its first corporate sustainability report. According to a company statement, report underscores Convoy’s commitment to shipping responsibly and highlights the company’s accomplishments across key environmental and social areas in 2020, as well as new goals and commitments for 2021 and beyond.
The report, titled “Ship Responsibly,” summarizes key areas of focus for Convoy, including innovation, internal culture, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and improving the lives of America’s 3 million truck drivers.
Convoy’s commitment to sustainability includes the following goals for 2021:
- Preventing 3 million pounds of carbon emissions from entering the atmosphere in 2021, an 87% increase in the amount of carbon emissions saved by Convoy in 2020.
- Continuing to operate with net zero emissions, implementing decarbonization strategies and neutralizing any remaining emissions with carbon offsets.
- Fostering diversity, equity and inclusion in Convoy’s network by investing in a dedicated supplier diversity program to help diverse carriers gain access to more business.
“A big part of what we do every day is figure out ways to reduce waste in trucking because that’s better for the environment, shippers, and millions of truck drivers. I am very proud to share our first corporate sustainability report,” said Dan Lewis, co-founder and CEO of Convoy. “Sustainability is core to our company culture and baked into our mission of reaching zero unnecessary waste in transportation. We look forward to building on this for years to come.”
Additional highlights of the 2020 Ship Responsibly report include details about Convoy’s commitment to truckers, shippers and the public. In 2020, Convoy launched a series of partnerships designed to improve the lives of hundreds of thousands of people in an unprecedented year, including:
- Joining forces with Salesforce to haul 500,000 COVID-19 testing swabs to San Francisco area hospitals in the early days of the pandemic.
- Launching new collaborations focused on improving the lives of truck drivers, including partnerships with the National Minority Supplier Development Council and the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council.
- Partnering with Land O’Lakes Inc. and other shippers to haul the equivalent of more than 1.5 million pounds of donated food to Feeding America food banks, the largest hunger-relief organization in the U.S., to help those in need.
- Helping Jazwares, global toy company, haul 22,000 donated toys to the Boys & Girls Clubs of King County, Washington.
Convoy is partnered with Emitwise, a software platform for running climate programs, to measure the company’s carbon footprint to learn where Convoy is emitting greenhouse gases.
“Now we have the data and insights to build a net zero emissions plan for our business operations,” said Jennifer Wong, head of sustainability at Convoy. “We’ve already made significant progress to help our customers reduce emissions and ship responsibly, but the time has come for us to bring that same rigor and mission-driven focus to our operating model. The trucking industry’s effects on climate change are undeniable and this commitment is a crucial next step in leading the industry forward.”
According to Convoy, medium- and heavy-duty vehicles, powered by diesel fuel, represent only 5% of the vehicles on the road but currently account for more than 20% of transportation emissions in the U.S., because trucks are typically driven for much greater distances than passenger cars. Because of this, Convoy is championing the effort to create a more efficient trucking infrastructure.
The Trucker News Staff produces engaging content for not only TheTrucker.com, but also The Trucker Newspaper, which has been serving the trucking industry for more than 30 years. With a focus on drivers, the Trucker News Staff aims to provide relevant, objective content pertaining to the trucking segment of the transportation industry. The Trucker News Staff is based in Little Rock, Arkansas.
