Grab Holdings Limited has announced a new environmental target as part of its Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) commitments. The company aims to achieve zero packaging waste in nature by 2040.
Grab operates a super-app providing transportation, food delivery and digital payment services on mobile devices across eight Southeast Asian countries including Singapore, Malaysia, Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.
Phase 1: Reduction of overpackaging and replacement of single-use plastics
Grab has developed a two-phase approach to reach its waste target.
In the first phase, Grab will focus on reducing overpackaging and replacing single-use plastics with compostable materials. The company will also work on developing reverse logistics mechanisms to increase the adoption of reusable and recyclable packaging.
This phase builds on efforts since 2019 to encourage customers to opt out of single-use cutlery, which has saved more than 23,800t of waste, with 898 million sets of cutlery weighing 8,088t saved in 2022 alone.
The first phase will run until 2030, with the aim of diverting 30% of plastic packaging.
Phase 2: supporting a circular economy
In the second phase, Grab will focus on developing long-term scalable solutions to contribute towards a circular economy by performing proper waste collection and supporting the use of reusable packaging.
This will enable Grab to achieve its target of zero packaging waste in nature by 2040.
Grab’s ESG report for 2022
Grab’s latest ESG report also tracked the company’s impact in 2022 across key priority areas. The report showed that Grab continues to create opportunities for everyday entrepreneurs to build sustainable livelihoods.
Today, 72% of Grab’s driver-partners earn from more than one service on the Grab platform. Grab also onboarded 658,000 small merchant partners in 2022 and small businesses on the platform saw a 26% increase in their monthly earnings on average after one year of being on the Grab platform.
Grab also maintained a safe and trusted platform as a top priority in 2022. New safety features, such as AudioProtect and QuietRide, were rolled out and 99.99% of Grab rides occurred without incident.
Grab is accelerating efforts towards carbon neutrality, reducing 48,000t of emissions in 2022 through zero or low-emission modes of transport. About 50% of Grab deliveries in Singapore are made on zero-emission modes of transportation. Grab has around 13,000 low-emission vehicles as part of its rental fleet regionally, including a 100% two-wheel EV fleet in Indonesia, where Grab is the largest EV ride-hailing fleet operator.
