UK e-retailer ASOS reduced carbon emissions by 21% YoY in FY2020

The report revealed a 13 per cent reduction in absolute (total) operational carbon emissions over the reporting period. Operational carbon emissions refer to emissions generated in the running of business, including offices, inbound stock, customer deliveries and returns. As the number of orders fulfilled by ASOS continued to grow through the period, the percentage reduction in emissions per order (21 per cent) was greater than the reduction in total emissions (13 per cent), the company said in a media release.

Emissions reductions were driven by several key projects: the move to more localised fulfilment through the launch of ASOS’ Atlanta fulfilment centre in 2019; switching to renewable energy for three-quarters of ASOS’ global electricity consumption footprint across all sites; prioritising sea or road freight over air freight for inbound products; and further enhancing recycled plastic content in packaging.

“We’re incredibly proud of what our teams have achieved against a very difficult backdrop. A 21 per cent year-on-year reduction in operational carbon emissions per order is a significant achievement that shows our efforts to decouple our growth from our carbon footprint are having an impact. We know we have more to do in this area and we’re looking forward to sharing more on that very soon,” said ASOS CEO Nick Beighton.

Last year, ASOS had signed up to the British Retail Consortium’s Climate Action Roadmap, pledging to achieve net zero emissions across its entire supply chain by 2040.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (KD)