Why are the millions spent on decarbonising the supply chain failing to deliver results?

Scope 3 in corporations: Why are the millions spent on decarbonising the supply chain failing to deliver results? [TCO Report and Analysis] 📊📉

For most large enterprises and corporations, the implementation of the CSRD has become a moment of truth. The greatest challenge has proved to be reporting and reducing emissions in the Scope 3 (value chain) area, which can account for over 70% and up to 90% of an organisation’s total carbon footprint.

In their quest to reduce emissions, companies are currently investing heavily in complex and extremely costly projects. Are they right to do so? Let’s take a look at the alternatives for Scope 3 decarbonisation that the market is currently pushing, and compare them with the simplest operational lever, which has been overlooked until now.

💰 Costly alternatives: How much does corporate decarbonisation cost?

Most Scope 3 reduction strategies are based on three highly capital-intensive areas:

1. Modernisation of subcontractors’ fleets (E-mobility & Hydrogen): Companies are urging logistics operators to replace their fleets with electric or hydrogen-powered lorries.
2. Requirement to use biofuels (HVO100): Some companies are opting to subsidise transport that uses alternative fuels, such as HVO (Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil).
3. Audits and IT systems for supplier mapping: Spending hundreds of thousands of euros on software platforms designed to track the carbon footprint of every single component across hundreds of subcontractors.

Conclusion? Companies are investing millions in methods that are complex, expensive and often ineffective at the current stage of technological development. Meanwhile, they are overlooking the element that physically holds each of these supply chains together: the load carrier.

🪵 A shopping blind spot: The wooden pallet paradox

Let’s take a look at the procurement structure of most large manufacturing and distribution companies. Due to wear and tear, breakages and losses, these companies purchase new wooden pallets every month – in huge quantities running into the thousands.

From an accounting and environmental perspective, this is a massive, recurring waste. In logistics, wood is treated almost as a disposable product. Worse still, the widespread belief that this natural resource is carbon-neutral is a myth. A full LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) proves something quite different.

📉 Hard data from the LCA report for the MW01 / MW01-R model

Commissioned by Libra Partners, the Envirly platform carried out a certified product environmental footprint assessment (in accordance with the rigorous standards ISO 14040, ISO 14044 and ISO 14025). The results clearly demonstrate why rotational timber procurement undermines ESG indicators:

• Carbon footprint of the material (per m³): The production and disposal of a standard wooden pallet generates 405 kg CO₂eq. By comparison, our recycled pallet (Model MW01) generates just 181 kg CO₂eq. That’s a direct reduction in emissions of 55.3%!
• Performance analysis over 100 cycles: The lifespan of a plastic pallet made from HDPE regranulate is estimated at a minimum of 10 years (it is up to 10 times more durable than wood). Over 100 logistics cycles, emissions associated with the use of the MW01 pallet amount to just 55.2 kg CO₂eq, whilst the continuous purchase, repair and rotation of wooden pallets generates as much as 124.8 kg CO₂eq.

An additional advantage affecting the transport phase (A4) is the pallet’s own weight. The technical data sheet (TDS) for the MW01 model indicates a weight of just 9 kg (while maintaining a static load capacity of up to 3,000 kg and a racking load capacity of 750 kg, as certified to ISO 8611). A standard wooden pallet weighs approx. 24 kg. Replacing wood with plastic from Libra Partners allows each shipment to be lightened by hundreds of kilograms, directly reducing truck fuel consumption.

🎯 The simplest and most cost-effective step in your ESG strategy for next year

If your team is currently drawing up the budget and sustainability targets for the next financial year, switching your pallet fleet from wooden to closed-loop plastic (internal pooling or dedicated external pooling) should be a low-hanging-fruit priority.

Why?

1. No capital expenditure required for the technological revolution: You don’t need to buy electric lorries or pay extra for expensive biofuels. You simply switch the fuel within your existing processes.
2. Optimising TCO (Total Cost of Ownership): You’ll stop blowing your budget every month on thousands of new wooden pallets, which immediately lose value and get damaged in your warehouses. Instead, you’ll invest in a durable asset (HDPE), which we’ll buy back from you in full after years of use and recycle.
3. A true circular economy: You not only meet emission reduction targets, but also comply with the upcoming requirements of the PPWR Regulation regarding the design of packaging for recycling and reuse.

Our LCA certificate is a ready-to-use audit document. You don’t need to estimate emissions ‘by eye’ or hire more consultants. We provide precise emissions data that your ESG team can simply copy and paste into your non-financial report as hard, documented evidence of Scope 3 reductions.

Instead of looking for complicated and expensive solutions, let’s start with the basics – the vehicles that drive around your warehouse every day. Let’s discuss an audit of the cost and emissions efficiency of your logistics vehicles.

#ESG #Scope3 #CSRD #Logistics #SustainableDevelopment #CircularEconomy #LibraPartners #CarbonFootprint #ESGReporting #CostOptimisation #PPWR #LCA