With one of the key focuses of the recent COP 26 Conference on decarbonising transportation, Saint-Gobain UK & Ireland has announced a new partnership with Rolec, one of the UK’s leading charging manufacturers, to support the delivery of a charger point network across a thousand of Saint-Gobain’s sites, offices and retail branches over the next five years.
The agreement comes on top of the company’s recent commitment to move all of its 3,200 company cars to fully electric by the end of 2023 (or hybrid if only absolutely essential, as a stepping stone to electric), investments in new Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil HGVs — which will reduce CO2 per mile by around 90% for its British Gypsum, Artex and some distribution brands — and the roll out of electric Mechanical Handling Equipment.
The charging point network is in addition to the firm’s commitment to install an electric car charging point at the homes of its company car drivers where one can be accommodated.
Saint-Gobain anticipates that these changes will remove 11,000 tonnes of CO2 from its activity over the next five years. CEO Mike Chaldecott said: “Our purpose is Making the World a Better Home and reducing our carbon footprint is integral to this. We are committed to be net zero carbon by 2050 and meet additional science based targets by 2030 so it’s essential we act quickly where we can and accelerate the actions we’re taking to reduce the carbon footprint of our transportation and reduce the impact on the planet from our colleagues who need to drive for work.”
All Saint-Gobain UK & Ireland brands will benefit from chargers being installed, with 500 of the 1,000 locations will be at Jewson branches. Roll-out of the charger network is already underway with 750 expected to be installed each year for the next five years. The business will also be using Rolec’s charger management system, VendElectric, which will allow it to control and manage the charging network, assessing usage and enabling colleagues and visitors to find information on real-time charger availability.
Image caption: Taking delivery of electric cars and mobile equipment at Saint-Gobain brand, JP Corry
