Introduction
At EGD, we design, produce, and deliver quality outfits and merchandise for the sponsors and teams of major sporting events.
Our business involves a lot of real-world operations: with goods flowing both inbound and outbound — from suppliers to event warehouses, and from warehouses to team hubs or directly delivered to the final users.
Our operations therefore have a significant environmental impact that we aim to mitigate as much as possible.
This guide outlines the steps EGD has taken to improve the sustainability of our operations.
In doing so, we hope to help others striving to make their operations more sustainable.
Context
Globally, transport accounts for around one fifth of carbon emissions, with 30% of that coming specifically from freight traffic.
And the International Energy Association has identified the transport sector as not on track to reach Net Zero by 2050. At EGD we’ve aligned with the “Race to Zero” coalition, aiming to hit net zero by 2040.
Definitions
For this guide, "Operations" refers to business processes related to the timely delivery of merchandise, focusing on logistics (inbound and outbound), warehousing, inventory management, transit packaging, and employee travel.
We’ll primarily examine the emissions from these activities, but will also touch on other environmental impacts such as plastic pollution.
Managing production partners
At EGD we work with a variety of partners along our supply chain. The majority of these are production partners who we work with to manufacture merchandise items for our clients.
Our choice of partners and how we interact with them significantly impacts our emissions. While we're still assessing our full emissions profile, we estimate that over half—possibly even two-thirds—of our emissions stem from supplier activities.
Choosing local production partners
As a starting point, we aim to choose production partners that are close to the end recipients of the merchandise. This helps to shorten transit routes and therefore reduces transport emissions.
For Paris 2024, 13 of our 15 production partners were based in Europe. This was our most localised Games yet.
EGD production partner locations for Paris 2024
Local production partners not only reduce emissions due to proximity, but also because of the type of freight needed to transport the goods. Land-based freight options like road or rail are considerably less polluting than airfreight (which is typically used for overseas production partners).
Source: ECTA 2021
Supplier emissions beyond inbound deliveries
While choosing suppliers based on their proximity helps to reduce transport emissions, it's equally important to consider the overall emissions profiles of the suppliers themselves.
For instance, if we select a supplier in France for the Paris 2024 Games, we might feel proud of the short freight route involved. However, if that supplier sources their goods from East Asia or North America with airfreight, then that choice would result in significantly more emissions than a producer which also sourced locally or via land freight.
For that reason, it's vital to look at the full emissions profiles of the suppliers you engage. We do this with the help of our partner Greenly. Before we select suppliers, we ask them to fill out an onboarding questionnaire which looks at how they measure their greenhouse gas emissions, their reduction targets, and specific actions that align with our Net Zero targets.
From that we’re able to choose suppliers that align with our objectives.
A version of this questionnaire (provided by Greenly) can be found here.
Item emissions beyond inbound deliveries
While tracking the procedures and policies of suppliers is helpful at the selection stage. Beyond that, we also want to see the specific emission profiles for the items that we procure from them. For that we work with Greenly, who provide the technology needed to do a Lifecycle Assessment per item. We then receive an LCA report that looks like this.
Lifecycle emissions for one of our Paris 2024 client's polo shirts
Interestingly, across the hundreds of items we assessed for Paris 2024, the transportation and distribution of the items accounted for 24% of their emissions. The majority of that is the inbound emissions from the procurement of the suppliers.
Lifecycle emissions across all the items we assessed for our Paris 2024 clients
And when digging into the transport and distribution emissions, we noticed that a staggering 96% of those emissions come from the airfreight used by the suppliers. This illustrates the importance of investigating the operations of your suppliers fully, in order to understand the total environmental impact of your activities.
Digging into the 24% of our items' emissions coming from freight
One of the areas that we aim to improve is to work with suppliers who source their materials locally where possible.
Sustainable Warehousing
At EGD we receive the procured items in warehouses that we rent for the duration of the sporting events that we serve. The warehouses themselves have an environmental impact that we also need to be conscious of.
Warehouse usage
At EGD we make sure that we only keep warehouses for the time that we use them. This of course lowers our costs, but also has significant benefits for our emissions.
Ultimately, warehouses need to be maintained with power, heating and building repair – and these have a considerable emissions profile.
A 2016 study in the UK found that warehouses accounted for 10.2million tonnes of CO2 emissions. That equates to approximately 2% of the UK’s overall emissions.
Consequently, by only securing warehouses for the exact duration of the time they are being utilised, it reduces the impact that the building has on our overall emissions profile.
Challenges with warehouse selection
However, it’s also worth noting that this can also have follow-on impacts.
We've found that the most energy-efficient warehouse spaces often require longer leases. However, opting for longer leases can actually increase our overall emissions from warehousing.
As a result, we've sometimes had to choose warehouses with lower energy efficiency, as this helps reduce our total emissions. Striking a balance between lease duration and energy efficiency is a constant challenge when selecting warehouse spaces.
Warehouse location
Another important aspect is the location of the warehouse itself. Of course, the nearer the warehouse is to the event location, the shorter the deliveries will be. This of course reduces the emissions of outbound deliveries.
However, warehouses tend to be located out-of-town, and we also need to factor into aspects such as the proximity to rail travel. If our employees and partners can visit the warehouse without a car, that also has a significant impact on our emissions.
For the Paris 2024 Games, we chose a warehouse slightly farther from the city than a closer alternative. However, its proximity to a direct train link into Paris resulted in a significantly better emissions profile compared to the nearer warehouse.
Transit packaging
Our operations inevitably require a large amount of protective packaging for the outbound transit of goods and to protect goods during everyday warehouse operations. This packaging is distinct from the end-user packaging which we discuss more in our Sustainable Merchandise Guide.
Cardboard boxes
Most of this packaging is cardboard boxes. So, one of the first steps we took in this area was to ensure that we were using recycled cardboard. It was fairly easy for us to source FSC certified Recycled corrugated carboard for our transit packaging.
It was also important to us to ensure that the cardboard we used was unbleached. Bleaching (which is common in the paper industry) has significant localised pollution implications.
We also established a partnership with a local recycling partner to collect all our cardboard and glass, ensuring the boxes that we disposed of were recycled once more.
Pallet wrap
The pallet wrap and stretch film used to secure loads on top of pallets was essential for the safety of our workplace. However, it wasn’t easy to find a recycler that was willing to take the used film from us. Additionally, the film we used would typically be transported outbound, and we had little idea of how it was being disposed of.
Speaking with other logistics partners this is something that is challenging to resolve due to the paramount consideration of employee safety. While there are some recyclers that specialise in the collection of this wrap (for example NexTrex in the US), the coverage and the overall economics of this type of recycling makes it difficult to adopt universally.
We’re currently investigating biodegradable alternatives to this wrap for future events.
Optimizing outbound deliveries
Once we’ve received the items from our production suppliers, we then sort and pack them for our clients. Once packed, they are sent outbound to client hubs (warehouses or HQs) and sometimes directly to end users.
One area where we’ve seen a lot of improvement is in our transport efficiency for outbound shipments. We’ve done this primarily by consolidating shipments and reducing trips.
For example, we optimized deliveries for Toyota at Paris 2024 by batching deliveries for multiple city locations, into much fewer trucks. This significantly reduced emissions by maximizing truck use and shortening trip lengths.
Additionally, we plan to transition to eco-friendly transportation modes, such as electric and hybrid trucks, as infrastructure develops. Currently there is a limit to electric truck availability, but we are actively planning the integration of electrified trucks when this becomes feasible.
Challenges We Face Moving to Sustainable Operations
Measurability and data-backed decision-making
Thanks to our partners Greenly and Ecovadis, we've made significant progress in measuring our sustainability efforts. However, there's still much work to be done. In the future, we aim to incorporate more data into our decision-making process, particularly when accurate emissions forecasts become available.
Internal resources
We have several areas where we aim to improve our sustainability standards. For example, we're constantly seeking new technologies to assist us, striving to provide clearer and more precise guidelines to suppliers, and working to collaborate more closely with our logistics partners to increase the use of electrified trucking. These initiatives require resources from our team, which can be challenging when also trying to scale a profitable business.
Fortunately, we find that our sustainability efforts are increasingly sought after by prospective clients and are becoming a requirement for many events we provide merchandise for. So our sustainability efforts often directly help our revenue growth.
No perfect solution
We must sometimes recognize that there's no perfect solution. For example, when deciding which warehouses to rent, we find that short leases offer better resource utilization—a critical aspect of sustainability. However, this often means we have less choice and leverage regarding the sustainability standards of the warehouses we hire. Economic realities can limit our access to the most sustainable options.
Conclusion
As we progress on our sustainability journey, we realize that sustainability is, above all, a mindset. It encompasses everything from major strategic decisions—like where we base our operations—to small daily choices, such as a contractor disposing of food waste in the correct bin. To foster a culture of sustainability throughout an organization, we need expert guidance, data-driven decision-making, and regular training and communication for all staff and stakeholders.
We've made significant strides, particularly in our supply chain with our LCA assessments. However, there's still much to do to enhance the overall sustainability of our operations and achieve our Net Zero 2040 targets.
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