Envirotainer, the global market leader in secure cold chain solutions for air transportation of pharmaceuticals and Air France KLM Martinair Cargo (AFKLMP Cargo), the leading airline in pharmaceutical logistics, today announced their collaboration on sustainability.

Envirotainer and Air France KLM Martinair Cargo each have a strong focus on sustainability and are pursuing multiple initiatives with a view to achieving more sustainable operations. Being long-term close partners, both organisations sought to strengthen the initiatives by collaboration.

Air France KLM Martinair Cargo has approved the newly introduced Envirotainer Releye® container and is in the process of implementing it in its booking system as part of its product portfolio. The Releye provides outstanding environmental performance, delivering up to 90% reduction in CO2 emissions compared to available passive solutions, based on life-cycle analysis.

Envirotainer will reduce the impact of the use of its containers on the environment by investing in Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF). SAF offers a cleaner alternative for conventional jet fuel. SAF is produced from sustainable feedstock, such as cooking oil, animal waste or solid waste from homes and businesses. It reduces CO2 emissions by up to 85%, when compared to conventional jet fuel. The reduction occurs throughout the entire lifecycle of producing and using sustainable aviation fuel compared to that of fossil fuel.

“We are very happy that a close partner of ours since many years keeps delivering top quality service and secures that the pharmaceutical industry, together with us, provides further capacity of latest technology”, comments Don Harrison, Head of Global Key Accounts, Airlines at Envirotainer.

Marcel Kuijn, Global Head of Pharmaceutical Logistics at AFKLMP Cargo says: “We really appreciate our long-term partnership with Envirotainer. Sustainability and Pharmaceuticals are among our strategic focus areas. That is why this initiative is of such great importance to us.”

Envirotainer Sustainability Context

In 2020, Envirotainer revised its Sustainability Strategy, based on Agenda 2030 and the UN Global Compact. The revised strategy includes a stakeholder analysis, materiality assessment, mapping of key SDGs to which Envirotainer can contribute. And a detailed calculation of Envirotainer’s total CO2 footprint according to the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, as well as concrete targets and actions.

Envirotainer’s target of being climate neutral was reached in 2020 and the company is since then CO2 emission neutral in Scope 1, 2 and 3, excluding use-phase, as the first company in the industry. In addition, life cycle analysis, performed by a third party, shows that our products are the most climate friendly cold chain solutions in the industry.

80-90% of the CO2 emissions in the pharmaceutical value-chain are generated in the production and raw material sourcing, so preventing temperature-sensitive pharmaceuticals from being exposed to temperature deviations during transport is crucial. Envirotainer is happy to report industry-leading levels of less than 0.1% temperature deviations. We believe this is especially noteworthy considering that some 600 million vials of pharmaceuticals were transported in our cold-chain solutions in 2020. Also, Envirotainer develops, manufactures, and provides innovative cold chain air transportation solutions, including validation, support, and service, for pharmaceutical products that require a temperature-controlled environment. Being part of this truly circular economy, where our products are leased to our customers and are thus re-used hundreds of times during their lifetime, strongly benefits the environment by reducing packaging landfills.

Air France KLM Martinair Cargo Sustainability Context

In October 2021, Air France KLM Group has committed to having its CO2 emissions reduction targets validated by the independent reference organization SBTi, ensuring that its targets are in line with the Paris Agreement. Air France-KLM is one of the first European airline groups to have its decarbonisation trajectory validated by SBTi. This new important step in the Group’s decarbonisation strategy comes in addition to its objective of net zero emissions by 2050.

The Air France-KLM group’s decarbonisation trajectory includes: An ambitious plan to renew the fleet of the Group’s airlines with new generation aircraft emitting 20 to 25% less CO2. Between 2019 and 2021, the Group invested 2.5 billion euros in fleet renewal.

The use of Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF). These non-fossil fuels are produced from industrial or domestic waste in a circular economy, and do not compete with the human food chain. Air France and KLM have been pioneers in the use of these fuels, which will play a key role in the decarbonisation of air transport, as they reduce greenhouse gas emissions by an average of 80% over the entire life cycle. Today, the Group is working to make these fuels more accessible in terms of quantity and price by creating an actual sustainable aviation fuel industry in Europe.

The search for greater efficiency in its operations, by favouring more direct trajectories and applying procedures that limit fuel consumption (lighter aircraft, single-engine taxi, continuous descent). Air France and KLM have set themselves the target of carbon neutrality for ground operations by 2030.

In addition, Air France-KLM is mobilizing the entire sector and is committed to the development of innovative solutions for aircraft design and maintenance, engines, or synthetic fuels, which will gradually lead to totally carbon-free aviation.

Envirotainer and AFKLMP Cargo have been working with similar objectives to improve the temperature sensitive supply chain quality, reliability and accessibility over the years. Now we can also add improved sustainability to our joint objectives to further strengthen our relationship.