Building Sustainable Logistics for Today and Tomorrow

CEVA’s Global CSR and Sustainability Leader, Benoît Tinetti, reflects on CEVA’s recent achievements in the arena, challenges, vision for the future, and how CEVA is helping customers reach their own sustainability goals.

Tell us about CEVA’s CSR and sustainability strategy overall. 

The foundation of our Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) strategy is based on three pillars and aligned with that of our parent company the CMA CGM Group. Acting for People which is caring for our employees and local communities where we do work and do business. Acting for Planet meaning contributing to a growth model that respects the environment and natural resources. And, Acting for Fair Trade, building a responsible value chain in collaboration with partner, customers and suppliers.

Our Acting for Planet pillar is focused on creating and implementing sustainable logistics throughout the entire supply chain. We aim to fight climate change and air pollution through three main levers: our transport fleet, warehouses, and through our low-carbon transport and logistics solutions. Another aspect of this pillar is promoting a circular economy, and we do this through aggressive waste prevention, reuse and recycling measures, and leveraging sustainable packaging solutions across our network. Additionally, we leverage ecologists to help take action on the ground locally in managing water efficiency and biodiversity assessments to understand our impacts and make improvements.

As a leading global logistics provider, we are responsible for decarbonizing our own assets but also play a major role in encouraging our suppliers and subcontractors to invest in the technologies of tomorrow. The decarbonization of the logistics industry cannot be achieved alone—it takes investment and commitment from all parties to make the biggest impact. Because of this, we aim to be transparent about our CSR and sustainability strategy and initiatives—we're proud of what we’re doing and want to bring sustainable logistics to life across the globe. We active communicate our goals, progress and challenges which can be seen in our recent CSR Executive Summary Report.

What are CEVA’s current sustainability goals? And how close are you to achieving them?

Together with our parent company, the CMA CGM Group, we aim to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050 across all activities with an ambitious decarbonization strategy.

To support this, our 2025 decarbonization goals and progress to reach them include:

How does CEVA track progress against its CSR roadmap?

We have 11 CSR KPIs that we track on a quarterly basis at CEVA and the CMA CGM Group. Each has annual targets and quarterly reporting. If we’re not on track to meet a target, we put a corrective action plan in place. Our CSR metrics are categorized into our CSR strategy pillars I mentioned before.

• Acting for Planet: with goals that track climate impact and energy efficiency

• Acting for People: with goals that track employee health and safety, training and diversity

• Acting for Fair Trade: with goals that track sustainable procurement, ethics and compliance

What areas do you think present a particular challenge? Why?

Regarding decarbonization, which is a key commitment at CEVA but also for our customers, the major challenge in the coming years relates to the extra cost of low-carbon fuels, whatever the mode of transport. These fuels will be essential to reach net zero carbon. This extra cost is directly linked to the availability of these alternative fuels and the required scale-up to democratize their use. It is reasonable to think that logistics will cost more in the coming years than it does now due to this common objective to reduce carbon emissions. A fair split of this premium is necessary for its acceptance by all actors.

What are some of CEVA’s key CSR and sustainability achievements in the last year?

It has been a big year for us in terms of progress in CSR and sustainability—a truly exciting time to be a part of CEVA Logistics. One of our biggest points of recognition this year was earning a Gold Medal and an overall score of 76 out of 100 from EcoVadis in its annual sustainability performance assessment. The Gold Medal achievement places CEVA in the top 1% overall for the logistics industry and top 5% for

companies overall. It represents a significant 12-point improvement from 2023, highlighting our continued progress in CSR initiatives. The assessment evaluated CEVA’s sustainability performance in four key categories: Environment, Labor and Human Rights, Ethics and Sustainable Procurement. CEVA scored particularly high in the Environment category, earning a particularly high score of 90 out of 100.

Other important achievements include:

• Reached 100% LED lighting across all our facilities in Latin America
• Implemented new solar photovoltaic projects with for example 25,000 m² in Mexico, 2,200 m² in France and 500 m² in Australia
• In 2024, CEVA has avoided more than 26,000 tons of emissions thanks to more than 10 million liters of sustainable maritime and aviation fuel
• In the first half of 2024, CEVA’s recycling services saved more than 10,000 kilograms of plastic from being used
• Received Green Supply Partners 2024 recognition by Inbound Logistics, a top employer certification in Columbia, and ESG champion award in Poland
• Launched the HumanFabWorkCare program across three sites in France and an employee volunteering program in eight countries for 13,000 employees
• Hosted a decarbonization hackathon for last mile delivery in New York with customers

How is CEVA supporting its customers in reaching their own sustainability goals?

Our customers rely on us to help them decarbonize their own supply chain operations. With innovation being a key part of our organization’s culture, we’re always looking for ways to improve, invent, and invest in creative sustainable logistics solutions. In line with our commitment to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050, we are proud to announce the launch of our FORPLANET sub-brand for sustainable and logistics solutions. The new suite of logistics solutions enables our customers to reduce the environmental impact of their supply chains by leveraging low-carbon transport and circular economy solutions.

In addition, with many customers needing to accurately report on their activities for internal CO2 monitoring or external regulatory requirements, CEVA FORPLANET solutions provide accurate data and CO2e calculations to ensure proper reporting. The CEVA FORPLANET solutions will address the vast majority of CEVA’s emissions—scope 3 emissions account for 95% of the company’s 2023 level.

As the new suite for its sustainable logistics offering, CEVA FORPLANET includes solutions around measuring, optimizing and shifting to low-carbon transport. The solutions include modal shift, as well as alternative fuels for air, ocean and road transport.

CEVA also offers customers a tailor-made consulting approach for customers interested in a deeper partnership to transform their supply chains using the suite of CEVA FORPLANET solutions through a five-step transformation program.
 

Why does it matter for CEVA?

There are many reasons CSR and sustainability are important to CEVA. It's important to understand that freight transport and logistics represent about 10% of all greenhouse gas emissions, so as a leading global logistics provider, we have a responsibility to act.

Also, our customers are increasingly integrating CSR and sustainability into their selection process and business requirements. We’re prepared to help companies in their quest to decarbonize their supply chains with sustainable logistics solutions and measures to track CO2 emissions and data to track progress on sustainability targets. Civil society, including consumers, media and NGOs, are evolving their practices and are expecting that CSR performance will be embedded in corporate governance and strategy.

There are other external factors as well. Public authorities are setting more stringent regulations to ensure the transparency of CSR information—to reach the same level as financial reporting—and to reduce CO2 emissions in line with the Paris agreement.