Company sustainability generally seems like an unimaginable selection: progress or emissions reductions — select one, and just one.
Fortunately it’s not at all times this manner. In 2024, the overall distance traveled by riders utilizing electrical autos from the shared mobility firm Lime was virtually double the quantity two years earlier. And the emissions? “Nearly the identical,” stated Andrew Savage, the San Francisco-based firm’s vp of sustainability.
Trellis talked to Savage about how Lime pulled this off and the challenges that lie forward as the corporate approaches a extremely demanding 2030 goal.
Progress to this point
Lime was based in 2017 and now affords electrical bikes, scooters and seated scooters in 280 cities in 30 nations. It claims to be the world’s largest shared electrical automobile enterprise.
The corporate had its near-term and net-zero targets permitted by the Science Based mostly Targets initiative (SBTi) in 2023, the identical yr it introduced that it was worthwhile. The targets require Lime to cut back absolute Scope 1 and a pair of emissions 90 % by 2030, from a 2019 base yr.
As a rising firm, it’s adopted an depth goal for Scope 3 fairly than setting an absolute aim: emissions from bought items and providers, capital items and upstream transportation and distribution per rider kilometer are focused to fall 97 % throughout the similar timeframe.
“That allows us to develop the enterprise,” stated Savage. “However we’ve bought to develop extra effectively or we’re not going to fulfill our aim.”
Lime’s 2024 sustainability report contains information displaying that the corporate is monitoring forward of schedule for each targets. Scope 1 and a pair of emissions, which embody firm services used to restore autos and recharge batteries, have fallen 76 % since 2019. Scope 3 emissions depth is down 63 %.
These cuts have been achieved in parallel with a four-year streak throughout which the corporate hit at the least 30 % progress in gross bookings yearly.
How one can stability progress with emissions
Lime’s largest emissions problem throughout its progress spurt has been Scope 3 emissions, which in 2024 made up 98 % of the roughly 110,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equal (tCO2e) it emitted. The biggest class throughout the scope by far have been capital items, which embody the embodied emissions in autos and batteries the corporate purchases.
Savage summed up the problem: “How will we merely present extra of a service while not having to purchase as many autos or elements? That comes all the way down to {hardware} design, designing for modularity and circularity, designing for longer life.”
Particular strikes embody switching to batteries from the South Korean firm LG which are manufactured in services that run on renewables, in addition to standardizing working procedures in order that Lime’s warehouses all over the world take the identical strategy to repairs. Even combating theft performs a task: One change that restricted emissions progress was redesigning the autos to make the batteries more durable to steal.
To chop transport emissions, which made up 13 % of the Scope 3 complete and embody vitality used shifting autos to and from warehouses, one other battery change has proved essential.
“One of many largest issues that we’ve achieved is shift to a swappable battery mannequin,” stated Savage. “Initially the battery was housed throughout the automobile and made to be tamper proof, however it additionally made it actually onerous to swap a battery and have them cost. That single act has enabled us to chop the in-market logistics considerably.”
Savage credit a management dedication to sustainability for bringing the group collectively to chop emissions.
“It goes again to the notion that we’ve a enterprise constructed round emissions-free and sustainable transportation,” he stated. “From the highest down — together with our CEO, Wayne Ting — we’ve set a very clear understanding throughout the firm that this can be a precedence.”
Proof level: One of many firm’s three top-level OKRs — Aims and Key Outcomes, a well-liked goal-setting framework — considerations sustainability. Savage additionally runs Lime’s Sustainability Council, which meets quarterly and contains Ting alongside the corporate’s COO, CSO and CBO.
Hitting and holding a 97 % reduce
Regardless of its progress, Lime nonetheless has a mountain to climb if it’s to hit its formidable goal of slashing Scope emissions depth by 97 % by 2030. It’s SBTi net-zero aim then requires the corporate to carry the depth at that stage till 2050.
Capital items stay a mighty problem. For all Lime’s work, emissions from this class have risen 7 % since 2019. Strategic sourcing of low-carbon batteries and battery covers is a spotlight, stated Savage. He’s monitoring developments at ELYSIS, for instance, a Canadian startup with a low-carbon technique for producing aluminum that counts Apple amongst its backers
To sort out transport emissions, Lime is transitioning its operational fleet to 100-percent electrical, which raises a bunch of questions. “We simply cracked 70 %,” stated Savage. “Does the warehouse have parking? Does the warehouse have electrical capability? How a lot does it value to improve to get electrical to the place the parking is? These are some actual challenges.”
Lime has additionally issued a request for proposals from low-carbon logistics operators, added Savage.
“It’s daunting,” he stated, “as a result of we have to do just about the whole lot proper.”
