It was a dinnertime conversation that set Polaris Transportation Group down the path of becoming a more sustainable and environmentally friendly operation.
“My daughter was going to the University of Guelph at the time,” Dave Cox, chief executive officer of Polaris Transport, recalled in an interview with TruckNews.com. “She was [studying] commerce and sustainability, and some of the things she said resonated with me. I knew I wanted to do more, personally, and recognized that we weren’t doing enough.”
The cross-border and domestic LTL carrier of about 165 trucks has always spec’d fuel-efficient equipment for obvious business reasons. Efficient trucks burn less fuel, saving money that goes directly to the bottom line rather than out the trucks’ stacks.
But the insights from Cox’s daughter made him realize the Polaris wasn’t doing enough. He looked around the company’s Mississauga, Ont., headquarters and realized they weren’t even recycling.
“We all do it at home, right? I think we’re accustomed to that and it bothered me. Well, guess what? Now we actually recycle. Yes, it’s a small thing but it’s very easy for us to do and it has had a significant impact,” said Cox.
Partnering with University of Guelph
In 2023, Polaris connected with University of Guelph’s assistant dean of strategic partnerships and societal impact professor, Audrey Jamal, seeking guidance on how to build a formal sustainability action plan.
“Polaris came to me with the intention to elevate their already existing eco-friendly practices,” Jamal said in a release. “We developed a holistic plan highlighting their corporate duties to protect the planet, take care of the people across their company and communities while working with ethical, environmentally conscious partners. It brings me hope to see prominent carriers like Polaris demonstrating this outstanding commitment to their sustainability efforts.”
The plan would grow to encompass not just environmental initiatives, but an entire ESG (environmental, social, and governance) framework centered around five pillars: work, employees, planet, community, and partners.
To develop and execute such an ambitious plan, Cox realized he needed a specialist. At a time when trucking was in a deep recession, he added a new full-time role for a sustainability coordinator. Meet Fulya Karakas-Akgun, a sustainability professional who was hired to lead the initiative, backed by the newly formed Polaris Sustainability Task Force.
“I needed a leader,” Cox admitted. “We needed an educator, and someone who’s respected in ESG and sustainability.”
Karakas-Akgun came on-board, and quickly realized Polaris already had ESG-related initiatives in place, that weren’t necessarily thought of as such. Things like the Polaris Community Care Unit, originally inspired by Purolator, which collects food and essentials and distributes them to local shelters and food banks several times a month.
She was also pleased to see there was genuine buy-in from upper management.
The importance of buy-in
“This is very important, because for whatever I do, I need approvals, I need a budget. And if that’s an obstacle in my way, it would make my life much more difficult,” she told TruckNews.com.
Polaris’s existing social and governance initiatives allowed Karakas-Akgun to hit the ground running. With existing buy-in from the executive level, the plan was then communicated to frontline employees.
“We had conversations with everyone at Polaris, whether you were on the dock or part of the driving community or executive,” Cox said. “I think ESG resonates with a lot of people, and they may just not know it. It really wasn’t that hard [to get buy-in].”
Surveys were distributed to determine which elements of ESG were most important to staff and business partners. The results affirmed that Cox already suspected: “That we’re a very progressive group.”
Looking at the fleet itself, Karakas-Akgun said the low-hanging fruit had already been harvested. The company already spec’d fuel-efficient trucks, equipped with roll rolling resistance tires. Drivers were already being trained on efficient driving techniques, but Polaris then developed its own driver scorecards to recognize top performers.
To take the biggest leaps forward, such as investing in zero-emission vehicles — whether they be hydrogen or electric-powered — the company had to accept the technology wasn’t yet a fit for its application, and fueling and charging infrastructure was not yet widely available.
“I hope we’ll get there when the infrastructure is ready,” Cox said.
The company has purchased a fleet of new electric forklifts for its warehouse operations, some of which had just arrived from the factory when we visited in mid-December. It also has ambitions to power its facility with renewable energy generated from solar and wind sources, right on-site. The local utility isn’t yet ready to support that undertaking, but Polaris has priced out the technology and is prepared to make the investment when the power company is ready, Cox said.
Asked if there’s a tangible return on investment for such initiatives, Cox said that’s not what the effort is all about.
The triple bottom line
“To me, it’s a triple bottom line,” he said, referring to a philosophy often cited in sustainability circles. “It’s people, planet, profit.”
He has, however, noticed increased interest in environmental initiatives from large manufacturers who comprise Polaris’s customer base.
“In recent months – the last two years – they’re now being questioned by their management teams and their people,” Cox said of larger shippers, both privately and publicly owned. “They want to know that they’re partnering with like-minded businesses. I also believe it’s a marketing opportunity to work with businesses that have similar ideologies.”
The next step, now that the Polaris Sustainability Action Plan has been created, is to measure progress, especially as it relates to carbon footprint.
“I think you can do good and do well [financially] at the same time.”
Dave Cox, Polaris Transportation
“So, now we have a baseline for that,” said Karakas-Akgun. “And we have to be transparent with our stakeholders, internally and externally, which we certainly will be. Our hope is, once we have our baseline and set our standards, we’ll broadcast them publicly. We’re also hoping to be able to calculate the carbon footprint and greenhouse gas emissions for our clients.”
Polaris has joined organizations, such as Green Economy Canada, to help it develop baselines, calculate its carbon emissions, and set emissions reduction targets. Such partnerships help give the plan more structure, Karakas-Akgun explained.
While having a formal sustainability action plan in place may be a competitive advantage, Cox said he’s more than happy to share what the company is doing – even with competitors.
“In all sincerity, call me,” he said, when asked what advice he has for fleets that may not know where to begin with a sustainability program. “It’s not about me. It’s not about Polaris. We believe it’s the right thing to do. I think you can do good and do well [financially] at the same time.”
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