Transport: Axereal sets its sights on carbon reduction

A wide-ranging movement is currently sweeping through Axereal Group. The Cooperative is multiplying its initiatives for cutting the carbon emissions of its transport activities. Work on reducing emissions from road traffic is accompanied by reflections on how to develop less polluting modes of transport: rail and waterways.

Training Axereal Services drivers on eco-driving techniques, turning to alternative fuels, reflections on developing waterway or rail transport: today there is a plethora of initiatives being developed in the various Axereal entities to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions of the Group's transport activity and contribute to the low-carbon economy. “There is real momentum on this topic at Group level,” says Bertrand Lamy, Axereal Services transport director.

The cooperative is clearly demonstrating a high degree of commitment to improving the carbon inventory of its goods flows, as well as of employee travel. “It’s a strategic project,” stresses Carmen Dechêne, sustainable development manager for the Group. Bruno Bouvat-Martin, Axereal’s first vice-chairman, confirms this: “As a big company, it is our duty to work on reducing our emissions.” It is an approach which, to succeed, requires the involvement of all Axereal’s people. They have therefore been made the target of an awareness campaign. “We need to get mobilised and work together in order to make this approach meaningful,” Mr Lamy goes on to say.

This commitment also involves defining, internally, multiple working priorities. “We need to take account of both structural and economic factors,” says Bruno Bouvat-Martin: “This means we need to understand, on a structural level, how to develop transport via the waterways, for example. In more broadly economic terms, measures need to be taken that can rapidly produce positive results, such as training in eco-driving.” “At the same time,” says Bertrand Lamy, “a lot of work has been done internally on monitoring the regulations and standards.”

Carbon reduction at the heart of the Cooperative’s strategy

This dynamic at work in the transport sector is part of a broader strategy, applied on a group-wide scale. It is a strategy aimed at reducing the carbon footprint of all Axereal activities, since every link in each one of our sectors is today concerned by the question of carbon reduction. This begins with agricultural production: regenerative agriculture aiming at carbon neutrality and designed to maintain healthy soils is being developed on Cooperative members' farms. There are currently more than 1000 farmers engaged in Axereal's low-carbon initiative. “We are pursuing a global approach within the Cooperative,” says Bruno Bouvat-Martin: “We are looking closely, for example, at our tools for processing cereals, with the aim of reducing power consumption.”

This is a global approach driven by the desire to “limit the impact of our activities on the climate,” in the words of Bertrand Lamy – and which may also, moreover, have positive consequences on the economic front. It also needs to enable the Group to anticipate the regulatory constraints that may be imposed in the future. “We are getting ahead of the curve and, by the same token, asserting our leadership,” states Sjoerd Rutten, regulations and projects coordinator at Axereal Services.

With this goal in mind, the Group conducted an in-depth carbon inventory in 2022. In light of this study, workshops were set up to identify possible greenhouse gas emission reduction levers. One of these was dedicated to transport, the Group's second-largest source of emissions. Many lines of action emerged from it.

Many actions for limiting road transport emissions

Within Axereal Group, goods transport (cereals, flour, animal feed, malt, etc.) is partly carried out by road. Many initiatives have been undertaken to limit the carbon footprint of truck traffic flows.

More energy-efficient driving. To reduce the energy consumption of trucks, Axereal Services trains drivers for the Group's agricultural businesses in “eco-driving” (energy-efficient driving techniques). Some reflexes behind the wheel, such as driving smoothly, can help reduce emissions by 3 to 4%. “Besides the training, the drivers benefit from fuel consumption monitoring, which enables them to measure the progress they have made,” Sjoerd Rutten explains. The livestock farming business unit has also set the objective of providing training to all its truck drivers. Another initiative backed by Axereal Services is to impose a speed limit of 85 kmph to avoid, in particular, excess fuel consumption.

Less polluting fuel. Axereal Elevage has fitted out half its fleet of trucks with a solution for driving on B100 (or Oleo 100) fuel. Produced from rapeseed, this biodiesel made entirely from biomass is far less polluting than traditional diesel. The objective is to switch the entire fleet by 2025. Under the impetus of Axereal Services, part of the truck fleet of the Group’s agricultural business unit has also been converted to B100. “This is a major step: this fuel enables a 60% reduction of the emissions from the vehicles concerned,” says Sjoerd Rutten.

Modernisation of the fleet. “We are upgrading between two and three vehicles per year in the Axereal Services fleet,” Mr Rutten goes on to say: “Transitioning trucks to Euro VI engines considerably reduces particulate matter emissions.” Axereal Elevage, too, is following a similar path.

Bringing subcontractors onboard. Some goods flows are operated by external service providers. “In addition to the actions carried out internally, we encourage these hauliers to reduce the carbon footprint of their journeys,” says Carmen Dechêne. Every one of the Group’s business units is working to this end. An example of this is Axiane Meunerie, where transport is entirely outsourced. The milling BU is therefore encouraging its service providers to switch to B100 fuel. To this end, a fuel tank has been installed in the Vincelles Mill, in the Jura department. A second mill will have one in place by early 2024. At Boortmalt, subcontractor hauliers have to sign a code of conduct committing them to report on their CO2 emissions and to work on reducing them.

A commitment with ambitious action plans. In 2021, Axereal Services signed up to the ADEME (Ecological transition agency) Objective CO2 initiative. The agricultural BU undertakes therefore to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 5% over three years, and reports annually on the progress of its action plan. The Axereal cooperative and Alliance Négoce also subscribed in 2022 to the FRET 21 (“Freight 21”) initiative. This concerns more specifically outsourced overland transport, and here too there is a set objective of lowering emissions by 5% in three years. The Cooperative needs to encourage its external transport providers to take action in this direction. Another priority in this approach is to investigate ways to transfer more road transport onto rail.

Actions for reducing carbon emissions from car travel. Aside from goods transport, initiatives have been undertaken to reduce carbon emissions from employee travel. Axereal Elevage intends to train every employee with a company vehicle in eco-driving techniques. Hybrid and rechargeable vehicles are also being progressively added to the agriculture and milling BU fleets (the inclusion of 100%-electric vehicles is also under consideration). The fleet of carpool vehicles, available to rent, also includes several hybrid models. Lastly, electric vehicle recharging facilities are being progressively

deployed. Such is the case at Olivet (Loiret), where charging stations have been installed in the head office car park. In Antwerp (Belgium), where the fleet of combustion engine vehicles has been replaced with electric or hybrid cars, the car park of the Boortmalt plant has been fitted with a 2000-panel “solar roof”. It can power 50 charging stations.

Rail and waterway transport: avenues of the future

Axereal Group is currently conducting an in-depth study into how to develop, in the coming years, two low-carbon modes of transport: rail and waterways.

To increase the share of goods transported by rail, there is a pressing prerequisite: the renovation of certain SNCF lines that have been neglected over the years. “Axereal is therefore investing in this regard in certain "capillary" lines in order to improve their reliability,” says Bruno Bouvat-Martin. Alongside the French government, the Centre-Val de Loire Regional Council and the Scael cooperative, the Group, for example, made a commitment to SNCF Réseau, the railway infrastructure company, in May 2021 to finance work on the Les Aubrais–Orgères-en-Beauce line (the total investment for this project amounts to €7.55 million).

There is a great deal at stake in terms of emissions: a full train can transport the equivalent of 45 cereal trucks. On the strength of this observation, the Cooperative is seeking to adapt its supply chain activities and encourage the take-up of rail freight. “We’re trying to store more cereals in silos connected to the railway network,” Bruno Bouvat-Martin explains: “Discussions may even take place with our competitors with silos on the same capillary line, to maximise the volumes being transported and so encourage the use of rail.”

Waterway transport is also a focus of attention. “We are looking into ways of developing this,” Mr Bouvat-Martin goes on to say. In this regard, a project called Multirégio is being observed with interest. It will make it possible to increase the number of slipways on the canals and could encourage the use of the Canal du Nord (between the Oise valley and the Dunkirk-Scheldt Canal), or indeed the Seine-Nord Europe Canal which will link Compiègne (Oise) to Aubencheul-au-Bac (Nord) by 2030. It is an option that could be of interest to Axereal for reducing the carbon footprint of transporting barley to the malting plant in Antwerp.