My experience of working in sustainability

Note: At the time of writing this, I work with a company called DiDi. They are a ride-hailing company (basically like Uber or Bolt).

Sustainability in business is not a new thing. It has been talked about for a lot of time now. The subject has reams of research and books, and everyday new work is being done in this domain. It was only recently that I got to work on the subject as part of creating a sustainability strategy for the launch of DiDi in the UK.

It is one thing to read about a topic, and an entirely different thing to do it as a part of your job, working with different stakeholders who do not necessarily have the same interests or goals.

During the planning phase, we put sustainability as a key pillar for the launch in the UK. This was important for three main reasons:

1. The UK government is focussing a lot on sustainability in businesses and is investing heavily / or penalising business for not being sustainable
2. The consumers care about using sustainable brands
3. Being a sustainable company makes it easier to work with external stakeholders and partners, as there is a lot interest in the business community to focus and build on such ideas

But what does “Sustainability” really mean for a ride-hailing business?

Without going into the details of Scope 1,2,3 of emissions and various standards that have been defined by the UN and other global bodies - to put it simply it has two main considerations:

• The effect the business has on the environment
• The effect the business has on the communities it serves (directly or indirectly)

For a ride-hailing business like DiDi (or Uber or Bolt for that matter) it can be broken down into 4 main categories:

• Offsetting emissions of the rides
• Increasing adoption of Electric Vehicles
• Creating sustainable ways of earning for Drivers
• Reducing the operational impact on the environment

Let me try and explain each category in a little more detail:

Offsetting emissions of the rides

The first pillar of the strategy was to have “All Rides Carbon Neutral” from day 1. To implement this we had to work with three main stakeholders:

1. External offsetting partner
• We had to secure partners which would help us calculate the emissions based on the type of vehicle used and kilometres driven. This is easy to visualise, but hard to implement, as there needs to be a system which is calculating, quantifying and verifying the emissions caused by each ride. After evaluating various value propositions we finalised two external partners who would help us - calculate our emissions, purchase offsets, and verify / vet the whole process. At any point of time, this activity runs the risk of “green- washing” so we had to be very careful and deliberate in the methodologies used for the purposes of offsetting.
2. Internal product team
• The external partners would supply us with the necessary API and algorithms, but then it would be another task to integrate with the DiDi app. So we had to work directly with the product team in order to keep the user experience seamless. Product development usually is a long-lead time item, so this needed to be kept in mind for the launch of this feature.
3. Internal sustainability committee
• The internal committee included senior business leadership, who needed to be convinced of the business case for the initiative. The committee included leaders from Strategy, Marketing, Government Affairs and PR. They would be responsible for sanctioning budgets, and measuring the success of the initiative.

Increasing the adoption of Electric Vehicles

This is a long-term strategic project that involves a lot of relationship building, negotiations and co-operations. Again there are 4 main pillars here:

1. Vehicle manufacturing partners
• Obviously, the key component here is the the production of electric vehicles. By working with manufacturers we can estimate consumer demand and the supply for the ride sharing business.
2. Vehicle leasing partners
• The leasing partners work with the manufacturers and the ride-sharing platforms (DiDi, Uber etc) to help the drivers transition to electric vehicles by making the process seamless and easy.
3. Vehicle charging partners
• The EV charging is one of most key aspects of this infrastructure. Having easy access and seamless payment methods to use electric chargers, is a key enabler for transition to EV.
4. Financial institutions
• Buying or renting an electric vehicle may not make financial sense for a driver, for whom the most important thing is earning a living. Working with financial institutions to create plans and products that will make the switch to EVs worthwhile is another key aspect of this challenge.

Naturally, all the partners are key here, and it is possible to work with just one or all three in the same conversation. Often, one company is working on more than one of the above aspects. The main goal is spot an overlap where everyone wins - the manufacturer can sell more vehicles, the lessor can rent out more vehicles, the financial institutions can earns interest of loans, and the platform increases its supply of electric vehicles.

As can be expected, this a project with long lead-times, (often in years) and requires collaboration and sign-off from senior management.

Creating sustainable ways of earning for Drivers

This pillar of sustainability has two aspects:

1. Enabling the drivers to switch to electric vehicles
1. It needs to make financial sense for the drivers to switch to an electric vehicle. A driver has made a significant investment in securing a commercial license to drive, owning / renting a car and doing the necessary paperwork to be eligible to drive professionally. A switch to EV will only be possible if it makes financial sense, both in the short term and long term.
2. Creating a sustainable means of employment
1. As mentioned, the drivers work really hard. It is not an easy job to driver 10-12 hours a day, and support a family. To make this a sustainable profession, the drivers should be able to:
1. Earn a stable income on a regular basis without having to worry about supporting family and managing expenses
2. Learn and upskill, so that they have the necessary tools to move up in life. They should be able to see this a long-term opportunity for growth and development and if possible, move-on to do something more financially and personally rewarding.

For both of these factors, it is imperative to give the drivers a way to earn a good living, while providing them opportunities to make the switch to electric vehicles. A lot would need to be done with respect to pricing, health and safety benefits through insurance, holiday pay and pensions for the drivers to make this a more sustainable career option. Enabling easy transition to EV with lower fuel costs and government subsidies, this would be a massive area of opportunity.

Reducing the operational impact on the environment

All environment impact is not explicit. Yes, cars cause a lot of emissions, but so do the enormous data centres, massive office buildings, day-to-day employee operations and the suppliers. Being a sustainable company not only involves reducing the emissions directly, but also involves reduction of the indirect and implicit environmental impact.

Obviously working on each of these 4 pillars requires rigorous research and is an exercise in prioritisation of resources. It is also a multi-stakeholder activity, where moving parts are often not obvious. It is often a white-board exercise and there is no template or a standard that exists for companies to follow. Which leaves a lot of space for innovation and new ideas.

My experience in this domain has been very limited so far, but I think this is a really exciting space to be in and contribute to. Being in London has been a big advantage for me, as UK is at the forefront of sustainability which gives me close access to the action.

The road is expected to be long and winding, and I hope I can continue to work in this domain as this is something which I feel is both professionally and personally rewarding.

I recently interviewed for a role of Sustainability Manager at a logistics company. As part of their case-study interview, I was asked to prepare a strategy to make all the deliveries from a warehouse sustainable. While I only had a couple of days to prepare the presentation, I think it is a good way to think about how sustainability in the logistics sector could work.

I did not get the role, but I did receive positive feedback from the Head of Sustainability, who interviewed me for the process.

Here is the case study that I prepared. Of course, I am no expert and this is supposed to be just a starting point.

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