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We understand that to become a purpose-driven organisation that creates sustainable, long-term value for our stakeholders we must prioritise people, planet and profit. We are strategically increasing our investment in ESG practices across our operations to underpin our industry, market and country legitimacy and reputation as a trusted partner of choice.

Society increasingly expects organisations to participate in a circular economy that limits environmental and climate change impacts and uses resources efficiently to minimise waste. Delivering on ESG priorities is essential to the success of our strategy and meeting stakeholder expectations.

Why environmental
stewardship matters

Part of our client proposition is to ensure we are resilient in a changing world and to help our clients, principals and customers maintain their resilience. From an environmental perspective, we aim to achieve this by integrating sustainable environmental practices into our everyday operations, innovating to reduce our environmental footprint and assisting our clients minimise their climate change-related supply chain risks.

Our focus areas

Reduce our environmental footprint

Contract logistics and freight management activities are main contributors to environmental threats such as air pollution, global warming and resource depletion. Stakeholders increasingly expect organisations to participate in a circular economy that limits environmental impact, uses resources efficiently and minimises waste.

Our approach is first and foremost centred on adopting the highest environmental standards in all areas of our operations, by meeting and exceeding all relevant legislative requirements and assessing our organisational activities and identifying areas where we can minimise our impacts

There is still significant scope for improvement in our environmental performance and this will continue to be a focus going forward.

We pursue a pragmatic approach to continuous operational efficiency and cost control while reducing our environmental impact. We research new and emerging technologies related to fleet and warehouse management, and energy, water and waste efficiencies.

Our key areas of focus are:
  • Reducing our carbon footprint by becoming more fuel and electricity efficient.
  • Reducing our water consumption.
  • Managing hazardous chemicals and waste responsibly.

Reducing our water consumption

We strive to sustainably minimise our demand for water through a relentless focus on continuous improvement.

We have prioritised the installation of rainwater harvesting systems and lawfully abstracted borehole water for our operations in the water-scarce Western and Eastern Cape provinces, and assess water solutions for operations in Gauteng and Limpopo. This reduces the dependency on municipal water.

Managing hazardous substances

Growing global consumer activism with increased focus on green logistics, means that a key differentiator for our chemical and energy operations and our clients is demonstrable environmental protection measures.

We have specialised capabilities (skills, processes and equipment), based on four decades of experience, to handle, move and store hazardous products in line with increasingly stringent occupational health, safety and environmental standards across all regions. Imperial contracts with reputable, certified spill responders to minimise pollution and ensure safe spill containment, in the event of storage or transport incidents.

We recognise that more sustainable waste management represents an important opportunity to drive circular economy, reducing our demand on natural resources. We recycle a high proportion of general waste and have a focused approach to re-use and recycling of used motor oil, oil filters and oil rags, which are common waste streams in our workshops.

Reduce our carbon footprint

Our transportation activities are the biggest contributor to our carbon footprint, followed by purchased electricity. By achieving lower than average carbon emissions in our transportation activities, we can in turn, pass this benefit on to our clients’ supply chain carbon footprints.

We are focused on driving fuel efficiency, electricity savings and investigating and piloting new truck technologies to achieve these outcomes.

View the environmental section in our 2021 ESG online report

Environmental report - PDF 1.2MB
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Imperial is a member of the Integrated Reporting Committee SA