Spanish on-demand delivery company Glovo has announced it has achieved its goal of carbon neutrality and claims to be the first in the industry to achieve this target.

Originally setting the target in December 2019, Glovo said it has been committed to neutralising 100pc of its carbon emissions, achieving this at the end of 2021.

To accomplish this, Glovo initiated cutbacks in non-sustainable packaging and food waste, along with an increased use of electric vehicles in its fleet, rising by 2.24pc from 2020 to 2021.

The delivery company also entered into a partnership with offset marketplace Pachama to purchase carbon credits that supported the Brazil Nuts Concessions and Madre de Dios forest preservation projects in Peru, and the Jari Pará Forest Conservation Project in Brazil. This offset Glovo’s carbon footprint by 25pc by the end of 2020, equivalent to more than 34,000 tonnes of C02.

Finally, the e-commerce company partnered with carbon finance consultancy group South Pole to expand its compensation initiatives, in order to cover 100pc of its emissions. These initiatives include forest preservation, sustainable agriculture, energy-efficient cookstoves and renewable energy.

“We are grateful to companies like Pachama that make it possible to offset our carbon emissions in a reliable way, thanks to their innovative technology using AI and satellite imagery to verify reliability of reforestation projects,” Glovo’s head of social impact and sustainability Sébastien Pellion said.

Glovo said it is now looking to new targets to significantly reduce its carbon emissions by 2030. Its new goals include more sustainable packaging to cover more than 92pc of its orders, making the bulk of its courier vehicles non-combustible and sourcing 100pc of renewable electricity for its own installations.

“Achieving our goal of becoming carbon neutral is the start of our climate journey at Glovo. We believe it’s the minimum any company should do to ensure they remain in business long-term on our planet,” Pellion said. “This ambitious but realistic plan will enable us to decouple our growth from the carbon emissions of our entire value chain.”

The food delivery company said its new emission reduction targets have been approved by the Science Based Targets Initiative. It added that its targets are consistent with reductions required to keep the rise of average global temperatures at 1.5 degrees Celsius or lower by the end of the century.

Founded in 2015, Glovo hit unicorn status in 2019 after raising €150m in Series E funding and more recently, it scored a massive €450m in funding.

Last year, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) highlighted the devastating long-term effects of greenhouse gases, particularly CO2, on our climate.

It estimated that unless there are immediate and large-scale reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, limiting global heating to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, as outlined in the 2015 Paris agreement, will be “beyond reach”.

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