Howard Tenens halves carbon footprint in five years

The family-owned business said it had reduced average fleet carbon emissions per kilometre by 55% against its baseline year, already exceeding the level it targeted for 2030.

Howard Tenens added it had also more than halved carbon emissions relative to turnover, as well as delivering its largest annual carbon reduction.

The company said a range of initiatives had led to the reduction and that it was now in a strong position to achieve net zero by 2045.

These included replacing 3.3 million litres of diesel with HVO renewable fuel, expanding its biomethane-powered fleet to seven vehicles, increasing its solar energy generation capacity to over 6 MWp, transitioning warehouse MHE equipment to more energy efficient and lower-carbon alternatives and deploying advanced telematics technology to improve vehicle efficiency.

Renewable fuels accounted for more than half of all fuel used across the fleet.

“We are absolutely delighted with the significant progress we have made so far in reducing our carbon footprint,” said Anna Rickard, Howard Tenens environmental consultant.

“100% of our customers’ warehouse operations are now achieved using renewable electricity through a combination of investment in solar PV on our roofs, renewable energy contracts and bioLPG being used in our MHE equipment.

“Over 95% of our emissions are now due to the large fleet of trucks that we operate and as everyone in the logistics industry will know, decarbonising heavy goods vehicles is extremely challenging due to the limited technological options available.

“We are using every viable option to reduce our emissions, whether that be renewable diesel, bioCNG or electric vehicles for our fleet.”

Jamie Hartles, Group CEO, added: “Our sustainability journey began nearly two decades ago, long before sustainability became a mainstream business priority.

“We then set ourselves ambitious targets because we believed the logistics industry needed to move toward delivering real results.

“Achieving these goals ahead of schedule shows what’s possible when long-term commitment is backed by investment and action.”