Case study: How Toyota Material Handling Europe reduces energy use in its operations
Toyota Material Handling Europe operates in 42 counties and is part of Toyota Industries Europe AB Group, a fully owned subsidiary of Toyota Industries Corporation, the world’s number one in material handling since 2001. Toyota Material Handling Europe believes that by reducing energy use in its operations it can better serve its customers with products and solutions making them improve their energy efficiency and CO2 emissions, which is also a priority for them.
This case study is based on the 2019 Sustainability Report by Toyota Material Handling Europe published on the Global Reporting Initiative Sustainability Disclosure Database that can be found at this link. Through all case studies we aim to demonstrate what CSR/ ESG/ sustainability reporting done responsibly means. Essentially, it means: a) identifying a company’s most important impacts on the environment, economy and society, and b) measuring, managing and changing.
Abstract
Since it started its energy reductions programme in 2015, Toyota Material Handling Europe has counted 146 energy saving actions Tweet This! completed locally across Europe, saving over 2.2 million EUR annually. In order to reduce energy use in its operations Toyota Material Handling Europe took action to:
- reduce fleet fuel consumption
- decrease fuel use in buildings and factories
Subscribe for free and read the rest of this case study
Please subscribe to the SustainCase Newsletter to keep up to date with the latest sustainability news and gain access to over 2000 case studies. These case studies demonstrate how companies are dealing responsibly with their most important impacts, building trust with their stakeholders (Identify > Measure > Manage > Change).
With this case study you will see:
- Which are the most important impacts (material issues) Toyota Material Handling Europe has identified;
- How Toyota Material Handling Europe proceeded with stakeholder engagement, and
- What actions were taken by Toyota Material Handling Europe to reduce energy use in its operations
Already Subscribed? Type your email below and click submit
What are the material issues the company has identified?
In its 2019 Sustainability Report Toyota Material Handling Europe identified a range of material issues, such as attracting and retaining talent, compliance, customer safety, responsible purchasing. Among these, reducing energy use in its operations stands out as a key material issue for Toyota Material Handling Europe.
Stakeholder engagement in accordance with the GRI Standards
The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) defines the Principle of Stakeholder Inclusiveness when identifying material issues (or a company’s most important impacts) as follows:
Stakeholders must be consulted in the process of identifying a company’s most important impacts and their reasonable expectations and interests must be taken into account. This is an important cornerstone for CSR / sustainability reporting done responsibly.
Key stakeholder groups Toyota Material Handling Europe engages with:
Stakeholder Group |
Employees |
Prospective employees |
Students |
Customers |
Suppliers |
Distributors |
Toyota Industries and its group companies |
Local communities |
Public authorities |
European Works Council |
How stakeholder engagement was made to identify material issues
To identify and prioritise material topics Toyota Material Handling Europe engaged, through surveys, with 34 internal stakeholders (including leaders and decision makers across Toyota Material Handling Europe) and 22 external stakeholders who included industry associations, a civil society agency, an external consultant, an auditor, Toyota Material Handling Europe’s owner, a daughter and sister company, academia, media, a local government representative, a worker that was not an employee, and several suppliers and customers.
What actions were taken by Toyota Material Handling Europe to reduce energy use in its operations?
In its 2019 Sustainability Report Toyota Material Handling Europe reports that it took the following actions for reducing energy use in its operations:
- Reducing fleet fuel consumption
- In FY15, Toyota Material Handling Europe launched its green company car guideline, moving to more hybrid company cars and reduced fleet fuel consumption. Since FY12, the share of diesel in Toyota Material Handling Europe’s fuel mix for company cars and service vans has been reduced from 89% to 70%. With four million service visits per year, 60% of Toyota Material Handling Europe’s fuel use and 29% of its total energy use comes from fuel for service vans. By carrying about 20% less weight, getting smaller service vans, using GPS and eco-driving, Toyota Material Handling Europe uses less fuel and reduces CO2 emissions.
- Decreasing fuel use in buildings and factories
- Toyota Material Handling Europe’s factories in Italy and its company in the Czech Republic have achieved ISO 50001, and its company in the Netherlands achieved significant CO2 reductions. These entities continue to act as centres of excellence in energy management. Another factory (France) and two sales and service companies will become ISO 50001 certified in FY21. In FY19, Toyota Material Handling Manufacturing Sweden started to switch to liquefied biogas (LBG) and so reduce the total CO2 output from Toyota Material Handling by more than 5% through one single project. Two customer demo sites for solar charging have also been launched in Toyota Material Handling Europe’s premises:
- On the Toyota Material Handling Netherlands campus in Ede, energy from solar panels is fed via solar charging stations to electric material handling equipment.
- Lift Truck Equipment S.p.A. (LTE), Toyota Material Handling Europe’s mast manufacturing company in Italy, installed a hydrogen station in May 2017, producing hydrogen from renewable electricity generated by the company’s solar panels (140 kW). The hydrogen is filled to the company’s fuel cell lift trucks – developed by Toyota Industries Corporation – to contribute to CO2 reduction.
- Due to their commitment to energy efficiency and low-carbon technologies, both entities have already met their 2020 energy and CO2 targets. In FY16, Toyota Material Handling Europe’s sustainability champions visited Toyota Material Handling Netherlands and in FY18 its Lift Truck Equipment factory (LTE) in Ferrara, Italy in order for Toyota Material Handling Europe’s experts to learn from their best practice experience.
Which GRI Standards and corresponding Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have been addressed?
The GRI Standard addressed in this case is: Disclosure 302-4 Reduction of energy consumption
Disclosure 302-4 Reduction of energy consumption corresponds to:
- Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 7: Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all
- Targets: 7.3
- Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth
- Targets: 8.4
- Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 12: Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
- Targets: 12.2
- Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 13: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts
- Targets: 13.1
78% of the world’s 250 largest companies report in accordance with the GRI Standards
SustainCase was primarily created to demonstrate, through case studies, the importance of dealing with a company’s most important impacts in a structured way, with use of the GRI Standards. To show how today’s best-run companies are achieving economic, social and environmental success – and how you can too.
Research by well-recognised institutions is clearly proving that responsible companies can look to the future with optimism.
7 GRI sustainability disclosures get you started
Any size business can start taking sustainability action
GRI, IEMA, CPD Certified Sustainability courses (2-5 days): Live Online or Classroom (venue: London School of Economics)
- Exclusive FBRH template to begin reporting from day one
- Identify your most important impacts on the Environment, Economy and People
- Formulate in group exercises your plan for action. Begin taking solid, focused, all-round sustainability action ASAP.
- Benchmarking methodology to set you on a path of continuous improvement
See upcoming training dates.
References:
1) This case study is based on published information by Toyota Material Handling Europe, located at the link below. For the sake of readability, we did not use brackets or ellipses. However, we made sure that the extra or missing words did not change the report’s meaning. If you would like to quote these written sources from the original, please revert to the original on the Global Reporting Initiative’s Sustainability Disclosure Database at the link:
http://database.globalreporting.org/
2) https://www.globalreporting.org/standards/gri-standards-download-center/
Note to Toyota Material Handling Europe: With each case study we send out an email requesting a comment on this case study. If you have not received such an email please contact us.