Musgrave has today (Wednesday, June 14) announced that it is moving to hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) fuel across its network of almost 500 vehicles.
By 2030, half of the Musgrave fleet will operate on alternative fuel, making Musgrave one of the largest users of HVO in Ireland.
The company, which includes SuperValu, Centra and Daybreak, has an overall ambition for its entire fleet to be net zero by 2040.
Musgrave
HVO is a completely fossil-free biofuel made from waste, byproducts and derived products not intended for human consumption from the food industry.
The fuel can be used to power diesel vehicles and provides up to 90% reduction in greenhouse emissions per litre of fuel used.
This year, Musgrave will use one million litres of HVO across its fleet and has plans to use three million litres of the biofuel by 2025.
The company recently invested over €17 million on upgrading its fleet of trucks to the most fuel efficient and lowest emission standard.
It has also reduced its mileage by 15.7 million kilometres per annum by reducing supplier deliveries through backhaul.
This allows company vehicles to collect goods from suppliers on their return from customer delivery journeys.
Musgrave’s fleet of vehicles travel over 35 million kilometres a year and complete over 20,000 deliveries across the island of Ireland each week.
“Sustainability is at the heart of our business and all that we do; reducing the carbon footprint of our transport network is a major part of this.
“We are determined to reduce the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of our fleet by 50% by 2030 which will pave the way to achieving net zero by 2040,” Luke Hanlon, Musgrave chief supply chain officer, said.
In addition to HVO, Musgrave will install over 10,000 solar panels in 2023 across its distribution centres and other locations, with a target to offset over 1,000t of carbon dioxide (CO2) annually.
By 2025 it is anticipated that up to a fifth of the distribution centres energy requirements will be provided by solar power.
Last year, Musgrave announced a €25 million Sustainability Fund to help reduce carbon by 12% across SuperValu and Centra stores by end of 2024.