Expolanka Freight leads in Asia’s carbon neutral freight and logistics business

Expolanka Freight Ltd was recently awarded a CarbonNeutral Certification by the Carbon Consulting Company thus making it Sri Lanka’s first-ever CarbonNeutral Freight & Logistics Company, and, one of the first in Asia.

Expolanka Freight CEO Jagath Pathirane said, “We’re very proud to be a certified Carbon Neutral® Company and Sri Lanka’s first at that.

We do feel a sense of deep pride and achievement as this re-affirms our position both as a trailblazer in the Sri Lankan transport sector and as a leading freight forwarding force in Asia.”

“Social responsibility does take top billing in our operations as we contribute to reducing global warming and taking a lead in living and doing business by example and concern for environment. As we also focus on sustainability, Expo Lanka Freight will look at the recommendations that suggest mitigation and monitoring strategies be enacted in the future to reduce the organisational footprint,” he affirmed.

Following the footprint calculation, Expolanka Freight Ltd has neutralised its carbon footprint of for the year 2011, by purchasing the necessary carbon offsets to make the carbon footprint of its operations zero.

Expolanka Holdings Head of Marketing, Corporate Communications and CSR Paddy Weerasekera said that this initiative is yet another step in an environmentally sustainable business strategy and a long term commitment to reduce the Expo Group’s environmental impact. “It is also all about Expolanka becoming a more responsible corporate citizen, while ensuring that we reap the benefits of being a sustainable, ethical and eco-friendly business entity,” Weerasekera affirmed.

All the offsets, that were sourced and retired were selected, contracted, transacted, verified and retired in accordance with the requirements laid out in the Carbon Neutral Protocol, which is a publicly accessible proprietary standard.

The protocol also lays out the requirements for businesses achieving CarbonNeutral  status and therefore permits use of The CarbonNeutral  Certification as evidence of their action on climate change.

Expolanka Freight is one of the largest freight forwarders in Sri Lanka and has established itself as a premier provider of services for the fashion industry. Expolanka has a total of 13 own operations in Africa, the Middle East and Asia and represents multiple agents in the Indian sub-continent.

The current infrastructure supports multi-mode transportation and logistics with Ocean and Air transportation as the core areas with inland trucking haulage, warehousing, customs brokerage –clearance and wharf handling, and project cargo.

CarbonNeutral certification is a globally recognised statement about a business’s action to reduce carbon emissions to net zero. The CarbonNeutral Company  currently works in 32 countries partnering some of the largest multinational companies like Avis, BBC Worldwide, Tata Steel and The Westine and many others.

As the official reseller and certifier for the CarbonNeutral Company  in South Asia, the Carbon Consulting Company follows strict international guidelines and standards in foot printing and verifying in order to guarantee the integrity and quality of carbon neutral programmes. In doing so Carbon Neutral certification is fully compliant with other third party standards set by the UK government, the British Standards Institution and other international bodies.