Health and beauty retailer AS Watson has accelerated its sustainability efforts by transitioning its delivery fleet to electric vehicles and launching initiatives in waste reduction to fight climate change.
A recent survey showed global direct carbon dioxide emissions from heavy and medium-duty trucks increased by 2.4% to 1.8 billion metric tons (GtCO₂) in 2022, and they were responsible for around 25% of global transportation CO₂ emissions. The use of battery electric vehicles can help alleviate the issues as they emit at least 63% fewer CO₂ emissions than a comparable diesel vehicle.
Sustainable future
AS Watson has accelerated its efforts in adopting electric vehicles, with electric vehicles in its Chinese fleet now accounting for over 80% of all warehouse-to-store deliveries on average in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Tianjin, Chongqing and Xiamen.
Malina Ngai, group CEO of AS Watson, explained, “As a responsible global retailer, sustainability is at the heart of our business. We’ve been investing and innovating to reduce our environmental impact and contribute to a more sustainable future. Our latest initiative focuses on making the delivery fleet of our supply chain more environmentally friendly.
“We operate 12 retail brands in our global portfolio, and 60% of them have started using electric vehicles for some of the warehouse-to-store and online order deliveries. While the adoption of electric vehicles is slow in the industry, I believe that we should take on the challenge to launch this initiative in as many markets as possible.”
For online order deliveries, Superdrug, Savers and ICI PARIS XL have started using electric vans and e-cargo bikes in Central London and 13 emission-free zones in the Netherlands respectively. Additionally, Watsons China, Singapore and Taiwan have introduced electric vans and motorbikes for their country-wide online order deliveries.
Waste reduction
In addition to the electrification of its delivery fleet, AS Watson has made progress in waste reduction in its supply chain globally, successfully diverting over 95% of warehouse waste from landfills. Furthermore, AS Watson has also reduced the use of virgin plastics in its online business packaging by 50% year-on-year, demonstrating its commitment to more sustainable packaging solutions.
Ngai added, “We will continue our journey toward supply chain sustainability. We expect to see increasing adoption of electric vehicles and the introduction of more waste reduction initiatives to help create a more sustainable world.”