Decarbonising the transportation of goods

DECATHLON is deploying its new international transport decarbonisation strategy, aligned with the company’s goal to reduce its absolute CO2 emissions by 20% by 2026, compared to emission measured in 2021.

Breakdown of the quantities of finished products transported per mode of transport as of 31/12/23

Air: 0.03%
(0.4% in 2022)

Road: 10.7%
(8.5% in 2022)

Sea: 89.3%
(88.4% in 2022)

Rail: 0%
(2.7% in 2022)

In 2023, DECATHLON implemented its new international transport decarbonisation strategy, with four pillars:
- Measure and monitor the countries’ CO2 performance, defining a reduction trajectory adapted to local contexts
- Improve the skills of teams around decarbonisation, so they can better analyse carrier’s offers
- Lead an international network to promote the sharing of best practices
- Establish responsible partnerships with carriers, using the EcoVadis rating

The goal of this strategy is to make transport less harmful by reducing the company’s carbon footprint internationally.

To reach its climate objectives, DECATHLON is prioritising actions on the modes of transport offering the greatest potential for reducing emissions.

Air transport
Air transport has the greatest impact in terms of greenhouse gas emissions. In 2023, DECATHLON strengthened its collaboration with all sectors of its value chain in order to reduce the share of air transport in its transport choices. This means more closely monitoring transport requests, made possible by incorporating emission reduction objectives into the job descriptions of certain key positions. Thanks to this work, DECATHLON was able to stay within its annual CO2 air budget for 2023, with the volume of DECATHLON products transported by air falling from 0.4% in 2022 to 0.03% in 2023.

Road transport
To reduce the impact of road transport, DECATHLON uses contracts with carriers as leverage to decarbonise the transport of finished products. Training purchasing managers is at the heart of the transport decarbonation strategy, to ensure they are able to establish contracts with road hauliers, using a framework for the purchase of biofuels. This has enabled the company to optimise the use of road transport and to develop partnerships with carriers to reduce emissions from this mode of transport.

Sea freight
DECATHLON wanted to collaborate with shippers using biofuels in 2023. However, the rising price of biofuels and the company’s increased vigilance on priority spending sectors led to this solution being halted temporarily. It can be noted that, in terms of tonnes transported per kilometre travelled, CO2 emissions related to sea freight remain among the lowest in the transport market.
Thanks to the team’s efforts in 2023, the
total CO2 impact of transporting DECATHLON’s finished goods fell by 28.5% compared with 2022.

In 2023, a global inflationary context led to a decline in consumption worldwide. This helped tensions observed in the post-shipping sector after the COVID-19 crisis to continue to ease, allowing DECATHLON to better align transport volumes with real needs and to shorten the lifespan of warehouse stocks.

To make appropriate transport choices, four key criteria for post-shipping were considered: service quality, delivery time, alternative energy solutions and transport costs.
Main advances in Europe in 2023
In 2023, 71% of shipped products transited inside Europe.
Therefore, post-shipping in this region is essential in reducing DECATHLON’s impact. The company exceeded its initial target of 65% this year with 87.9% of kilometres travelled in Europe using diesel alternatives for transporting these products (62% in 2022). Country initiatives were introduced, including France’s use of rapeseed oil (low CO2 emissions) as an alternative fuel and the development of an HVO fuel59 for diesel lorries made entirely from recycled oils in Belgium and France. At the same time, DECATHLON continued to use train and barge services for certain logistics warehouses, increasing the quantities transported while reducing the CO2 emissions related to product transport.

This year, logistics and transport teams also measured emission factors by fuel type. This allowed them to share the knowledge acquired on environmental issues and the consequences of each mode of transport with operational teams and to make informed choices during the selection process.