Applegreen, Ireland’s largest independent forecourt retailer, which has 80 sites in Ireland and the UK, has signed a deal with Nootrol, the Irish green procurement firm to measure and track carbon emissions. 
Under the programme Applegreen will use Nootrol’s supply chain and green procurement management cloud computing service to collaborate, share and exchange sustainability and carbon performance data across its supply chain partners.
Frank Pyne, Applegreen Sustainability spokesperson on the project, said: “This is not something that we’re legally obliged to do but we see it as an important component to delivering on our commitments on carbon reduction. As a significant business in the UK and Ireland we feel we have a responsibility to demonstrate leadership in the area of climate change.
“We have selected the online Nootrol service as it is the only one that can provide us with visibility deep into our entire supply chain, not just direct Tier-1 suppliers. It is intuitive, easy to use and most importantly equips us and our suppliers with the means to achieve real reductions in energy, carbon and costs across our entire supply chains.”
Mark Kearns, CEO of Nootrol added, “Although there is currently no mandatory obligation to report a company’s carbon emissions there is increased public, investor and stakeholder pressure to integrate carbon management within Corporate Social Responsibility programmes that usually involve suppliers. More and more companies are now realising that by measuring their carbon emissions substantial cost savings can be generated for both businesses and suppliers.”
The news follows a recent report* by management and technology consultancy BearingPoint which found that green supply chain initiatives across Europe are being increasingly driven by bottom line issues rather than regulation.
Applegreen’s new climate change and green procurement standard encourages suppliers to use energy efficiently and reduce carbon during the production, delivery, use and disposal of products and services supplied to the company.
Applegreen’s Climate Change and Green Procurement standard is at the cutting edge of green procurement. Suppliers will be encouraged to undertake the following:
o To have a policy in place to address the challenge of climate change;
o To actively measure and report carbon;
o To set challenging targets to reduce carbon emissions and to report on progress.
Applegreen has a strong track record in addressing the challenges of climate change, taking action to reduce emissions from its own operations through the delivery of lower carbon products and services. For example, the six Applegreen Motorway Service Areas on the M1 at Lusk and Castlebellingham and the M4 at Enfield all use CHP (combined heat and power) units. The implementation of CHP solutions on each site, powered by LP Gas allows for the efficient simultaneous generation of water heating, central heating and electricity in a single process. This not only reduces energy costs but also minimises the impact on the environment.
The company is now taking its activity to the next level by committing to buy products and services that have lower environmental impacts. While many companies are currently working to reduce their own carbon footprint, Applegreen joins a growing list of global businesses extending their focus to their supply chains.
Ahead of the introduction of the new Climate Change and Green Procurement standard, Applegreen in collaboration with Nootrol, has since August 2010 been trialing the programme with some of Applegreen’s largest suppliers both in Ireland and abroad.