Resource efficiency

Cramo Care is our strategy for integrating sustainability step by step into all parts of the business. Our ambition is to take the lead in advancing sustainability in the rental industry as well as meeting the requirements of all stakeholders and internationally recognised standards.

Rental is a sustainable sharing economy business

One important part of our sustainability work process is understanding the impact we have across the value chain. We work together with our suppliers, customers and other stakeholders to tackle problems and to address opportunities in the rental business. The fact that it is more sustainable to share a large fleet of tools and other rental equipment instead of buying and using your own is a good basics of sharing economy.

Driving professional sharing

A central part of Cramo’s sustainability strategy is to actively develop a Professional sharing economy, defined as “a collective term for business-to-business activities aimed at increasing resource efficiency by providing temporary access to underutilized physical assets, thereby effectively reducing environmental impact”.

The principle of increased resource efficiency through higher capacity utilization has constituted the basis of Cramo’s business model for over half a century. The notion of sharing of idle capacity is central to the definition of the professional sharing economy, because it is the key link to resource efficiency and reduced environmental impact.

The key difference between professional and peer-to-peer sharing is that professional sharing by definition is sustainable. By only including the professional sharing of under-utilized physical goods, the concept automatically excludes sharing activities with no link to increased ecosystem value.

Our impact across the value chain

A significant environmental impact from Cramo’s operations comes from the manufacturing, transportation and utilization of the rental equipment Cramo provides. Since 2016 Cramo publishes twenty-five KPI’s covering sustainability as defined in our sustainability program Cramo Care, where environmental impact is a central part. Included among the KPI’s are areas where Cramo has the possibility to have an influence as a significant customer, including the supplier selection, the composition of the rental fleet and transport optimization. Solutions to help customers reduce their energy usage, emissions and waste are central parts of Cramo’s offering.

Sustainable rental services

We have developed a number of sustainable rental services and solutions depending on the local situations and customer needs.

Reduced energy usage on construction sites

One example on services asked for by our Nordic customers is our “Smart energy” concept. It focuses on arrangements to achieve extensive savings on energy and cost in light towers and in the heating and lighting of site huts and modular space. The products included in the solution are a new type of low-energy site hut that, combined with an efficient insulation method, reduces energy consumption by 35% and a new type of outdoor lightning that together with the site hut results in a 50% reduction at the construction site. The solution also includes online services for monitoring and follow-up.

Modular space is another smart solution for a sustainable society

Every week another 1,500,000 people around the world become urban citizens, each striving for a better life. In addition to housing, new schools, pre-schools, housing for seniors and for students, and offices, for instance, will be needed. Meanwhile, we face climate change and growing resource scarcity. To meet new and increasing needs, technological advances and efficient ways of sharing resources are crucial. As part of the sharing economy, our rental solutions provide safe, resource-efficient alternatives to our customers, generating value to all our stakeholders and to society.

What is Cramo doing to reduce the internal environmental impact?

Internally (scope 1 and 2) the focus areas are CO2 emissions and energy usage, where the target is a 20% reduction relative to sales during 2017-2020, and waste management. The targets are set group-level and the starting point varies substantially from country to country. All subsidiaries are required to contribute to the group-level targets by improvements in their local operations and there are various energy saving initiatives ongoing in all countries.

Reduced energy usage at our depots

During 2017-2018 all depot signage (over 300 locations) is upgraded to LED lights. An average depot uses approximately 1100 W with fluorescent lamps compared to 400 W with LED, ie about a third of the original energy consumption.

Other initiatives to reduce energy usage (and CO2 emissions) at selected depots address heating (installation of air-air heating pumps, optimization), lighting (in-door LED, out-door light sensors), doors (change to doors with lower U-value), temperature (measuring, adjusting, night reductions), ventilation (regular service and filter change, optimization, time control when possible), solar panels, and others (change to more energy efficient home appliances, routines for opening/closing and car heaters with timers).