Loxam accelerates environmental shift

European equipment rental company Loxam said it will speed up its efforts to reduce its environmental impact with the unveiling of a new carbon trajectory and a committment to invest significantly in low emission machinery over the next 10 years.

The company will “accelerate its environmental approach by supporting the ‘Science Based Targets‘ initiative” and has now pledged to cut its direct emissions by 50% between now and 2030. 

It also plans to reduce by 30% its indirect emissions - which includes the use of its equipment by customers - as measured against a 2019 basline.

The strategy was announced today at the group’s fourth Safety and Environment Meeting (Rencontres de la Sécurité et de l’Environnement) in Paris, France.

Gérard Déprez, President of the Loxam Group, said, “Our activity of equipment rental, rooted in the sharing economy, presents us with the opportunity and responsibility of accompanying the whole sector in sustainably transforming our user habits.

Gérard Déprez, Chairman of Loxam

“This trajectory follows initiatives that have been underway for many years (ISO 14001 certification in 2010, control of consumption, equipment to the latest environmental standards, optimisation of transport logistics, etc).

“It also reflects our desire to step up our commitment to the issue, and get our entire ecosystem working towards this goal: employees, customers, suppliers and investors,” added Déprez.

Loxam, which earlier this year became the first equipment rental company to offer the hydrogen powered GEH2 generator, plans to deliver its new greenhouse gas emission reduction plan by basing its actions on a group-wide carbon footprint assessment.

Alice Hénault, Director of Foresight and Development, said, “This precise measurement of carbon emissions enables us to identify our main emission sources that require a dedicated action plan.

“Given that 60% of the group’s emissions are generated by our customers’ use of our equipment, the deployment of low emission equipment constitutes a priority for us. Therefore, Loxam intends to invest significantly over the next 10 years in low emission machinery.

“So far to date, 40% of our investments are already devoted to the acquisition of this new equipment. This is already the case, as illustrated by the launches of the Loxgreen range in 2020, and its equivalent Ramigreen in our subsidiary Ramirent (Nordic countries, Baltic states, and Eastern Europe).

To help achieve its targets Loxam also plans to replace its company vehicle with sustainable alternatives and increase its use of renewable energy, while also converting its branch’s electrical infrastructure.

The news comes as LoxamHune, its Spanish subsidiary, announced that it had again passed two ISO environmental standards. 

LoxamHune achieved both the UNE-EN ISO 14001 (Environment) and UNE-EN ISO 14064-1 (Carbon Footprint) certifications.

These were awarded in recognition of a number of environmental initiatives carried out by the company, including a move to paperless customer and supplier processes, a reduction in the company’s energy use, and an 11% reduction in the total waste produced during cleaning of its equipment.

The subsidiary also increased its use of IoT technology to reduce its carbon footprint when conducting equipment maintenance and increased the proportion of electric-powered construction equipment it purchased.

Roughly 38% of LoxamHune’s rental fleet is now comprised of the low-carbon alternatives.  

Luis Ángel Salas, CEO of LoxamHune, said, “Being a carbon-neutral company is one of the mainstays of our commitment to sustainability, so every year for the past 11 years, we have been working to improve the efficiency of our processes, purchase machinery that is more and more respectful to the environment and increase the safety of our clients and employees”.