With COP26 in Glasgow having put the climate change crisis front and centre of everyone’s agenda, food services giant Aramark Northern Europe has committed to being net zero by 2050, making it the first region in the company’s global operations to set a reduction glide path.

Combined, the Northern Europe region is set to meet the targets set by current legislation for all relevant jurisdictions and Aramark Northern Europe has also committed to align with the global business’ commitment to set science-based targets following the Science Based Target Initiative’s new Net-Zero Standard over the next 24 months.

Aramark Northern Europe CEO Frank Gleeson said: “Aramark Northern Europe, including our UK, Ireland and Global offshore business, has worked diligently, to understand, interrogate, and improve upon the impact of our operations; all the while ensuring that we also improve our services for clients and customers alike.”

“The urgency of the climate crisis has renewed our focus on innovation, collaboration, and competition on a scale that we have never seen before.

“There is no sustainability practice or effort too small, nor too insignificant, once it is firmly rooted in the intent to do right. With that in mind, everyone in our organisation is committed to playing their part in ensuring we meet our Net Zero Roadmap and Commitments for the region.”

To deliver its ambitious global target, the company will transform carbon-intensive areas of operations, as well as working with suppliers to change contributing factors within the supply chain.

Key commitments are built around:

Transport:

Replacing the existing fleet of diesel and petrol owned and leased vehicles to electric vehicles (EV) as soon as is practical and training drivers how to drive more efficiently to reduce emissions, which will be monitored and captured by telematics.

And Frank Gleeson told the Yearbook: “As it stands – the forecourt environment in Ireland has made significant strides in the provision of charging points at all levels, but wider national EV infrastructure is not quite where it needs to be to transition our fleet as aggressively as other companies.

“However, we have a fantastic Fleet team who are consistently reviewing improvements and advancements in battery range and manufacturer offers so that we can ensure to bring more EV with every stage of fleet renewal.”

Energy Efficiency:

All electricity contracts will be procured from renewable or low carbon sources with green champions at each gathering monthly energy performance data to provide feedback that will be are incorporated into capex decisions.

Aramark’s Business Excellence, Facilities and Property Management Teams will also collaborate and integrate service lines, where appropriate, to provide multi-faceted reduction solutions across our workplace footprint.

Goods and services:

In Northern Europe, Aramark has already been moving towards a higher percentage of plant-based meals along with the development of a science-based climate friendly menu proposition. With this, it is changing recipes, increasing the mix of plant-based, and environmentally sustainable dishes based on 50 key ingredients.

Source locally:

CEO Frank Gleeson told the Yearbook Aramark prides itself on its long-standing commitment to identify, partner with, and support local producers, relationships that will only be enhanced by the latest commitments with a preference for locally sourced in instances where carbon reduction can be achieved.

“Aramark has long made a deliberate effort to source local produce throughout our supply chain,” he explained.

“Our decarbonisation plans are simply an affirmation of this promise towards more of the high quality, ethically sourced produce that our clients and customers expect. For example, we source more than €60 million in local goods and services annually, including serving 100% fresh Irish beef and lamb in Ireland too.”

Minimising waste and maximise recycling:

Aramark will trial software that tracks and manages food wastage, indicating possible changes to menus and portion sizes. In addition, staff training programmes will minimise waste and maximise recycling with food waste sent to anaerobic digestion plants.

Asked if any charitable tie-ins might benefit from this and whether Irish companies who share Aramark’s ambitions would be viewed more favourably, Frank Gleeson said: “It’s exciting to see so much innovation and entrepreneurship in this space in Ireland.

“We are very proud of our partnership with Good Grub, for example, which has created a swell of awareness for the solutions that food donations can bring those in needs.

“More broadly, we are setting best practice expectations for every stage of the food and packaging life-cycles, and we plan to have a positive impact in this space as our efforts and programmes expand.”

Travel:

Aramark is set to encourage its staff to embrace technology to limit travel and where travel is required, it will prioritise carbon reducing travel modes, such as rail over air and cars.

Frank Gleeson conceded that the pandemic had taught Aramark some valuable lessons when it came to communicating in person.

He told the Yearbook: “As a hospitality business with thousands of frontline, customer-facing employees, we are never going to undervalue face-to-face interaction.

“However, the pandemic has shown that remote collaboration (particularly on a global scale) is now an everyday part of our operational environment. This means even more innovative solutions, greater flexibility, and stronger products for our clients and customers.

“On carbon footprint specifically, we are currently developing an employee travel policy that will ensure we avoid unnecessary meetings and reduce our business travel footprint overall – particularly when it comes to air travel.”

Engage Employees:

Aramark aims to encourage its employees to join its sustainable journey by putting in place and extending initiatives such as cycle to work schemes, encouraging carpool arrangements, providing information on public transport alternatives, installing EV charge points and paying favourable mileage reclaim rates to EV vehicles.

And Aramark CEO Frank Gleeson told the Yearbook the firm aimed to sup-port the process for drivers switching from internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles to EV.

“Our Fleet and Energy teams are collaborating on a project that would enable our drivers to use one charging card for home, public and HQ charging thus streamlining the process and minimising touch points for drivers,” he explained.

“Current government grants for home charger installation have recently been made available to fleet drivers, helping incentivise the switch to EV. Government incentives like this are critical to support the move to EV particularly as we have not yet seen price parity with ICE and EV.”

Aramark insists its Net Zero 2050 Commitment is just the beginning for Aramark Northern Europe, with the business acknowledging that there is still more to do as part of a wide-ranging effort to have a positive impact on people and the planet – the essence of the company’s Be Well. Do Well. sustainability plan.

This Net Zero milestone will also combine with ESG efforts for Northern Europe, ranging from mandatory Sustainability e-learning for all 15,000 employees in the region, along with operational training and tools on plastic packaging, waste management, energy saving, and food waste prevention.

The big message: “There’s much more to come.”

For the full article in the IFCR yearbook, click HERE.

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That said, the actual number of new EVs sold at 8,646 still only represented just over 8% of 104,000 all new vehicles sold.

Climate change minister Eamon Ryan had set a target of having almost one million EVs, both private and commercial, on the roads by 2030.

The Republic’s Climate Change Action Plan had envisaged having 845,000 electric cars, 95,000 vans, 3.500 lorries and 1,500 buses in operation by then (a total of 945,000)

The Green Party leader himself admitted in November that target would be “difficult to achieve” with Tánaiste Leo Varadkar conceding “we may have to do better with a work car van than with a private car side. But that’s the goal, and it’s a combination of the two”.

The fact is that in less than 10 years we will no longer be able to buy the new petrol and diesel cars most of us now drive and once Electric Vehicles reach purchase cost parity with traditional cars there will be little reason to opt for a conventional vehicle whose resale value could be virtually nothing a few years later.

Aside from a higher purchase cost the other fly thus far in the EV ointment has been range anxiety… and that’s where the forecourt rides to the rescue.

Charging to the rescue

If you don’t have a spare €60,00 for a range topping Tesla Model 3 LR, which can manage almost 350miles per charge, chances are you’ll be stopping for a top-up somewhere between Dublin and Belfast on a round trip.

The UK’s Policy Exchange think-tank has said the UK’s rollout of electric vehicle charging points is way behind what is needed to meet its planned ban on new petrol and diesel cars, and that’s a picture reflected in Ireland too.

As a result, forecourts everywhere are now stepping up the installation of rapid charging points to cope with rising EV sales and the fact that in little over a decade the face of motoring will be radically changed.

Just over a year ago the UK’s first forecourt dedicated to only electric cars opened in Braintree, Essex, and there’s little doubt more will follow all across the UK, Ireland and mainland Europe.

Forecourts everywhere are now stepping up the installation of rapid charging points to cope with rising EV sales and the fact that in little over a decade the face of motoring will be radically changed.

Fuel brand leaders

Maxol chief executive Brian Donaldson has already said he is planning on investing a seven-figure sum into transitioning forecourts from diesel and petrol pumps and towards electricity charging points, but he also called for more government help, especially when it comes to accessing the grid.

He told The Times: “There has been no clear direction [from government]. As a company we are happy to make the investment within our own site. We think the government should step in with investment outside of our site that will take power to our location.”

Maxol is currently planning to roll out charging hubs at Mitchelstown in Cork, Castletroy in Limerick, and in north Dublin over the next eight months and while every new charging point is a tick in the plus column for EV ownership, he’s not alone in expressing frustration over the State’s  ambitions on the transition not necessarily being backed by sufficient investment.

Chief of executive of Applegreen’s EV division Eugene Moore noted that Ireland is behind the UK and the US — where the forecourt retailer also operates — in terms of grants available to help them transition to electric charging hubs.

Mr Moore pointed out that President Biden’s infrastructure bill sets aside $7.5 billion (€6.6 billion) worth of support for EV infrastructure in America, while the UK has £950 million (€1.1 billion) earmarked for the same.

Applegreen itself is planning to spend €100 million in the next few years, with a plan to incorporate 700 new charging points across its Irish sites “lighting up 50 hubs this year,” he noted.

The company plan to complete its own rollout to keep pace with the public’s adoption of EVs

Tackling range anxiety

While public charging points play a key role in encouraging the switch to EVs, so too does the purchase cost and improvements in batteries to reduce ‘range anxiety’ and the reliance on charging too often when straying far from home.

The fact is charging your car overnight at home, when electricity rates are at their lowest, makes economic sense and there is currently a €600 grant available to help with the cost of installing a private charger in your driveway.

Not everyone has their own driveway or dedicated parking spot however, and to that end the ESB, which operates over 1,350 public charge points across Ireland, has matched €10 million in government funding from the Climate Action Fund to expand the network by the end of this year.

Funding too has been approved for local authorities to install and maintain more on-street public chargers, but this will need to be greatly ramped up as more people make the switch.

The postcode lottery

While there is no debating the fact that EVs are cheaper to run than traditional vehicles its still not a level playing field depending on where you live.

In the UK an average motorist will spend around £300 charging their EV for the year while in Ireland the same power will set you back around €800.

That’s still a huge saving when compared to filling the tank with petrol or diesel but it’s enough of a disparity to get annoyed about.

With costs starting at around €30,000 for a new compact EV in Ireland it’s perhaps little surprise that they are not yet being bought in greater numbers than they are.

Supply issues which have dogged the industry for the past couple of years are also affecting would-be EV buyers.

While going electric represents a not unsubstantial investment the fuel saving after three or four years, coupled with negligible maintenance costs, eventually make for a compelling argument.

Holding off

With supply issues dogging the whole of the motoring industry for the past couple of years getting your hands on the EV of your choice when you want it is far from guaranteed and there’s perhaps one compelling reason to hold off for a year or two… that being huge advancements in the batteries which power them.

A Tesla Model 3 Long Range, with a reassuring range of close to 350miles will currently set you back a cool €60,000 but the fact of the matter is most drivers would settle for a lesser range if charge time could be reduced on the street and at the forecourt.

The good news is scientists at Pennsylvania State University in America have developed new batteries for EVs that can charge in just 10 minutes.

Made from lithium, they also allow users to drive their cars 250 miles before needing to be charged again.

The alternative batteries could make new EVs cheaper than those that use cobalt in their batteries, making the initial purchase more enticing.

The fact is we are going electric, it’s just a matter of how soon we get there.

To read the full article in Ireland’s Forecourt & Convenience Retailer yearbook, click HERE.

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While Danny concedes that the start of 2022 was overshadowed by the continuing global pandemic “restricting the experience economy and dampening consumer confidence,” he is quick to point out that there are other major issues at play for companies plotting the course ahead.

“The bigger challenges facing businesses as they look beyond the improving public health situation across the Island of the Ireland involves factor of excess demand and constrained supply conditions,” he tells the Yearbook.

“The continuing fallout from Brexit and the re-emergence of inflation in prices and in turn wages is challenging the competitiveness of business.”

While Brexit may be causing headaches when it comes to supply chain and prices, there has been a substantial lift in trade between Northern Ireland, with cross-border business increasing in both directions.

The Central Statistics Office in Dublin reported that in the first nine months of 2021 imports from Northern Ireland surged by 60% to €2.8bn , with trade in the other direction also up by 48%, with a total value of trade of €2.57bn.

“Many of the teething issues with the Ireland/Northern Ireland Protocol are still to be resolved,” said Danny McCoy, “but it is clear that it is working as predictably intended in terms of trade channels diversion with greater cross border trade between North and South of the island.”

Ambitious targets

A more pressing issue for us all is saving the environment, with many companies now committing to ambitious carbon neutral targets on the back of COP26, goals which Danny says will be hard to achieve while keeping prices where consumers expect to see them.

He explained: “The challenge for businesses to meet carbon reduction targets whilst growing their activity is immense.

“The need to price environmental assets appropriately to reduce the climatic damage will rise energy costs in the short term. Coupled with the expansion of the global money supply these price rises are driving inflation rates to over 30-year highs.”

One price rise no-one can have failed to notice is fuel, with little chance of a “sharp reversal anytime soon,” according to Danny. However, with a plan to end new petrol and diesel engine car sales by 2030 there may be one upside.

“This will drive demand towards Electric Vehicles, but the demand might be limited by adequate networks of charging points to encourage EV use,” he added. “Governments have a role here to further incentivise this shift.”

Covid lessons

Companies have been forced to make many gear shifts since the emergence of Covid and while some have led to improvements, Ibec in conscious that the long-term impact of the pandemic has put many of the firms it seeks to help at risk.

“Covid has taught the business community many worthwhile lessons about the fragility of supply chains but also the capacity to flex to different outlets for work, like the switch from office to home, but also different channels of delivery,” explained Danny.

“These lessons should lead to improved productivity being embedded in time, but short-term dislocations and surging inflation may mean the negative impacts are more than just transitory.

“For retailers, the experience has been a significant sales bounce since last summer, due to pent up demand and additional saving but this has levelled off over recent months.

“There is confidence in this post-Christmas period and a stabilising public health backdrop that retail sales will have a strong 2022 driven by high disposable incomes supported by elevated savings over pandemic era.

“The primary focus of retailers is to ensure a safe shopping environment for staff and customers, though an immediate concern is staff being out sick and isolating. As a result, we are likely to see stores operating with reduced staff, and hopefully this won’t translate to closures. In any case, retailers will continue to ask public for their understanding as rationing is reaction to excess demand too as much as inflation.”

The flip side

But while some businesses may be flourishing, that’s far from a universal picture.

“Headline figures, of course, mask other trends in the sector and not all parts of retail are experiencing the same uplift as others,” Danny told the Yearbook.

“Grocery retail, for example, has seen sales increase significantly during the pandemic. People are eating more at home, while our town and city centres have been quiet.

“However, on the flip side, the lack of office workers and tourists, along with the extended closure of bars and restaurants, has seen footfall drop dramatically in key urban retail districts.

“This has been a problem in many cities, but Dublin and Belfast have been the worst affected. They are more reliant than others on commuters and foreign visitors, and while suburban shopping centres haven’t fared so badly, the city centre has taken a big hit.

“That trend was starting to correct itself by the end of October, but recent weeks have seen consumers again reduce their activity due to Covid concern. Reduced activity in the hospitality and events sector, spills over into retail and there are simply less shoppers around town.”

“Not only has Covid affected where people shop, it has also affected how people shop. Some of this is short-term, but other trends are probably here to stay.

“Visits to the city during the pandemic have been more purpose driven. Casual browsing has reduced considerably. This led to lower number of transactions in stores, although they were typically higher value. Those parts of retail that rely on more unplanned impulse buying have suffered accordingly.”

Rebuilding retail

When it comes to rebuilding trade for city-based retailers and the hospitality and experience trade that depend on a healthy footfall, Danny believes it will take more than simply fully reopening to do the trick.

“In the immediate term, the sustained opening and recovery of the city’s wider economy is needed to restore more normal levels of retail footfall to the city. Into the future, though, retailers and other city centre businesses will have to work harder to entice consumers back,” he explained.

“The acceleration of online retail and the increase in remote and hybrid working models demand a rethink of the offering, not just in retail, but across the city’s wider experience economy.

“It was always the case that Dublin city centre needed to develop and market itself as a destination retail and leisure experience, but this has taken on a new importance.

“There are some positive indications from the past 18 months, when retail reopening after Covid restrictions consumers were quick to return. A real value is placed on the in-person experience and the supporting amenities that only cities can offer, but we can’t be complacent.

“The city needs to not just deliver a great retail experience; it needs to be a great place to live and work – it’s all interconnected.

“An increasing dilemma for retailers is that EU workers that left during the pandemics are reluctant to return due to the high living costs. This is manifesting itself in skills shortages right across the sector.

“Better transports links, more imaginative open spaces, cleaner and safer streets, quality housing and reduced local charges for retailers and local businesses are some of the initiatives that will help realise the city’s potential.

“At the same time, Dublin and Belfast must continue to reinvent its offering to consumers wanting something more creative and inspiring than they can access locally.”

What to expect

So, what can consumers and businesses expect for the rest of 2022 and beyond?

“The global conditions are likely to get substantially tighter with central banks withdrawing the money pumped out over the last two and governments starting to withdraw the much-needed pandemic supports,” warns Danny.

“Inflation is likely to drop off current highs but settle at much higher elevated levels than experienced in a generation. Interest rates will rise significantly but actually return to much more normal levels pre-the Great Financial Recession over a decade ago.

“The simultaneous rise of interest rates and higher prices will impede the living standards of many segments of the population and is likely to find expression in street protests across the world.

“Politicians will prioritise living standards and will try to deliver on this by tackling soaring costs of living. The appetite in the short term to continue the much-needed emphases on a carbon transition may be dampened.

“The labour market has been particularly distorted by the pandemic. Some sectors have surged like technology and medical sciences whilst for travel and hospitality it has been disastrous.

“Participation in the labour force has been dropping, not so much in headcount but in terms of hours worked. Many are choosing for a multitude of reasons to work less, partly as a result of higher wages, higher savings and increase disposable income.

“Employment rates are high and the corollary unemployment rates are low. In a tight labour market, getting and retaining workers is the top concern amongst the business community.

Prospects for 2022

“The prospects for the coming year are in the round very good with plenty of sustainable opportunities for entrepreneurial businesses and specifically retailers.

“The political backdrop globally looks tenser than in many years but it’s impact on suppressing both business and consumer confidence is very temporary.

“The rising population on the island of Ireland, with higher disposable incomes means that retailers have an opportunity to rise to the myriad of challenges but to seize the moment an expanding marketplace can bring.

“The omni-channel retail environment is here to stay but the move to digitalisation and e-commerce was advanced by years during the early part of the pandemic.

“Getting the offering and supply delivery right, businesses will face buoyant demand over the next couple of years.

“Controlling costs in an inflationary era is tough and maybe next to impossible, but the real change driver is enhancing productivity by investment both in people and technology. This is where the likely winners will focus, those who singularly focus on trying to stop the cost rise will not be able to control the tide. King Canute knew that he just needed to show his followers it was so.

“All stakeholders need to be engaged in the post-Brexit, post-pandemic, socially and environmental aware era we are entering. The importance of having social dialogue mechanisms have never been greater on the shared island to facilitate the transition to more sustainable businesses and societies.”

To read the full article in the Ireland’s Forecourt & Convenience Retailer yearbook, click HERE.

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That’s according to Ibec chief executive Danny McCoy, who warns that there is little chance of a sharp reversal in climbing fuel prices anytime soon.

In a wide-ranging interview appearing exclusively in the Ireland’s Forecourt & Convenience Retailer yearbook, he said many companies are now committing to ambitious carbon neutral targets on the back of COP26 – but these will be hard to achieve while keeping prices where consumers expect to see them.

Government plans to end new petrol and diesel engine car sales by 2030 may bring an upside to the rising fuel prices.

“This will drive demand towards Electric Vehicles, but the demand might be limited by adequate networks of charging points to encourage EV use,” Mr McCoy said.

“Governments have a role here to further incentivise this shift.”

And he said companies face an immense challenge to meet carbon reduction targets whilst growing their activity.

“The need to price environmental assets appropriately to reduce the climatic damage will rise energy costs in the short term,” he said.

“Coupled with the expansion of the global money supply these price rises are driving inflation rates to over 30-year highs.”

Watch out for the full interview in the forthcoming Ireland’s Forecourt & Convenience Retailer yearbook.

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The minister made the announcement while in Glasgow this week for United Nations Conference on Climate Change, COP26.

The role of the group will be to consider EV Infrastructure in the context of the overarching principles of prioritising active travel (walking, wheeling and cycling) and public transport towards decarbonising our transport system.  The working group will be collaborative and will be made up of key organisations who have a role to play in this area.

Decarbonisation

“I am delighted to announce today on COP26’s Transport Day, that I am driving forward decarbonisation in Northern Ireland by establishing a new EV charging task-force, to help us deliver a modern, reliable public electric vehicle charging infrastructure to provide confidence to users of ultra low emission vehicles and improving connectivity across the North,” the minister said.

“The aim of the task-force which will represent  the views of drivers, energy-providers, consumers, councils and government, will be to inform a strategy for delivery of the necessary infrastructure to support those switching to EV use.

“Alongside the investment I have made and the match funding I am providing to our councils to help deliver e-charging across Northern Ireland, this task-force will be the driving force for the transformative change we need across our communities to deliver the scale of e-charging infrastructure required to make progress in our battle with climate change.

“I am honoured to be here at COP26 as Northern Ireland’s Minister for Infrastructure and I am fully motivated to do whatever is within my power to help resolve the crisis threatening our environment.  This is our last chance and the time for talking has long passed.   I’m here to get to work and make progress with partners across these islands and across the globe.”

Shambles

Earlier this year, Nicola Mallon pledged work to upgrade the current charging points and increase the number, but was told that the current network is “a shambles”.

It was claimed by Ulster Unionist MLA Mike Nesbitt that up to half of the electric vehicle charging points across Northern Ireland are broken at any time.

During ministerial question time at Stormont, Ms Mallon said she had provided funding under the EU InterReg scheme to increase the number of rapid charging points.

She said: “The e-car public charge network in NI is owned, operated and maintained by ESB. I have recently met with ESB to identify further opportunities for collaboration to advance the e-charging network.

“My officials are assisting ESB as it looks to replace up to 60 charge points which were installed as far back as 2011/2012 and I have made changes to the planning system to make it easier to install e-charging infrastructure.”

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