It was a lunchtime verbal exchange that helped Polaris Transportation Group become a more sustainable and environmentally friendly company.
“My daughter was going to the University of Guelph at the time,” Dave Cox, CEO of Polaris Transportation, recalled in an interview with TruckNews. com. “She read business and sustainability, and some of the things she said resonated with me. I knew I wanted to do more personally and realized we weren’t doing enough.
The cross-border and domestic LTL carrier of about 165 trucks has always spec’d fuel-efficient equipment for obvious business reasons. Efficient trucks burn less fuel, saving money that goes directly to the bottom line rather than out the trucks’ stacks.
But Cox’s daughter’s concepts made her realize that Polaris wasn’t doing enough. He looked around the company’s headquarters in Mississauga, Ontario, and found that they weren’t even recycling.
“We all do it at home, right? I think we’re used to that and it bothered me. Well, guess what? Now we recycle. Yes, it’s a small thing, but for us it’s very simple to do. “and it’s had a significant impact,” Cox said.
In 2023, Polaris reached out to Audrey Jamal, associate dean of strategic partnerships and professor of social influence at the University of Guelph, for advice on how to expand a formal sustainability action plan.
“Polaris came to me with the intention to elevate their already existing eco-friendly practices,” Jamal said in a release. “We developed a holistic plan highlighting their corporate duties to protect the planet, take care of the people across their company and communities while working with ethical, environmentally conscious partners. It brings me hope to see prominent carriers like Polaris demonstrating this outstanding commitment to their sustainability efforts.”
The plan would expand to encompass only environmental initiatives, but also a comprehensive ESG (environmental, social and governance) framework focused on five pillars: work, people, planet, network and partners.
To scale up and execute such an ambitious plan, Cox found that he needed a specialist. At a time when trucks were in deep recession, he added a new full-time position as a sustainability coordinator. Meet Fulya Karakas-Akgun, a sustainability professional who was hired to lead the initiative, with the support of the new Polaris Sustainability Task Force.
“I needed a leader,” Cox admitted. “We needed an educator and someone with a good reputation when it comes to ESG and sustainability. ”
Karakas-Akgun joined us and temporarily learned that Polaris already had ESG-related projects, which were not necessarily noticed as such. Things like the Polaris Community Care Unit, fostered through Purolator, which collects food and necessities and distributes them to local shelters and food banks several times a month.
She was also pleased to see there was genuine buy-in from upper management.
“It’s very important because for everything I do I want approvals, I want a budget. And if that gets in my way, it’s going to make my life a lot harder,” he told TruckNews. com.
Polaris’ existing social and governance projects allowed Karakas-Akgun to take off quickly. With buy-in from leadership, the plan was communicated to frontline employees.
“We’ve had conversations with everyone at Polaris, whether they’re on the dock or as part of the driving network or management,” Cox said. “I think ESG resonates with a lot of people, even though they may not know it. It wasn’t that complicated [to get acceptance]. ”
Surveys were distributed to determine which elements of ESG were most important to staff and business partners. The results affirmed that Cox already suspected: “That we’re a very progressive group.”
As for the fleet itself, Karakas-Akgun said that the most immediate fruits have already been harvested. The company has already specified fuel-efficient trucks equipped with roll-resistant tires. Drivers were already trained in effective driving techniques, but Polaris later developed its own motive force scorecards to recognize the most sensible drivers.
To achieve the biggest breakthroughs, such as investing in zero-emission cars, whether hydrogen or electric, the company had to settle for the generation not yet being compatible for its purpose and that the refueling and charging infrastructure was not yet widely available.
“I hope we get there when the infrastructure is ready,” Cox said.
The company has purchased a fleet of new electric forklifts for its warehouse operations, some of which had just arrived from the factory when we visited in mid-December. It also has ambitions to power its facility with renewable energy generated from solar and wind sources, right on-site. The local utility isn’t yet ready to support that undertaking, but Polaris has priced out the technology and is prepared to make the investment when the power company is ready, Cox said.
When asked if there is a tangible return on investment for such initiatives, Cox said that is not the purpose of this effort.
“To me, it’s a triple bottom line,” he said, referring to a philosophy often cited in sustainability circles. “It’s people, planet, profit.”
However, it has detected increased interest in environmental projects from the giant brands that make up Polaris’ visitor base.
“In recent months – the last two years – they’re now being questioned by their management teams and their people,” Cox said of larger shippers, both privately and publicly owned. “They want to know that they’re partnering with like-minded businesses. I also believe it’s a marketing opportunity to work with businesses that have similar ideologies.”
The next step, now that the Polaris Sustainability Action Plan has been created, is to measure progress, especially as it relates to carbon footprint.
“I think you can do good and do well [financially] at the same time.”
“So now we have a basis for this,” Karakas-Akgun said. “And we want to be transparent with our stakeholders, internally and externally, and indeed we will be. Our hope is that once we have our foundation and have established our standards, we will make them public. We also hope to be able to calculate our customers’ carbon footprint and greenhouse fuel emissions.
Polaris has joined organizations, such as Green Economy Canada, to help it develop baselines, calculate its carbon emissions, and set emissions reduction targets. Such partnerships help give the plan more structure, Karakas-Akgun explained.
While having a formal sustainability action plan can be a competitive advantage, Cox said he’s more than happy to share what the company is doing, even with competitors.
“In all sincerity, call me,” he said, when asked what advice he has for fleets that may not know where to begin with a sustainability program. “It’s not about me. It’s not about Polaris. We believe it’s the right thing to do. I think you can do good and do well [financially] at the same time.”
James Menzies is editorial director of Today’s Trucking and TruckNews. com. He has covered the Canadian trucking industry for over 24 years and holds a CDL. Contact him at james@newcom. ca or on Twitter at @JamesMenzies.
This is a moderated forum. Comments will no longer be published unless they are accompanied by a first and last name and a verifiable email address. (Today’s Trucking will not publish or share the email address.) Profane language and content deemed to be libelous, racist, or threatening in nature will not be published under any circumstances.
Stay up to date on truck technology and life
We have changed the way we showcase trucks and trailers available for sale – and now send the details right to your email inbox.
Simply click here to subscribe to our bi-weekly HD Hotlist for the listings.
read >>