Bolloré Logistics China announced that it has signed a three-year agreement with start-up Akila to reduce its energy consumption in the warehouse and ultimately make the area more sustainable.

In a statement, Bolloré said the agreement is based on the provision of a digital solution that uses artificial intelligence to improve the company's results in terms of environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues.

"Akila's solution will be deployed in the Songjiang (Shanghai) warehouse, with an area of 18,000 m2," the logistics company said, adding that apart from optimising its energy consumption, the platform will also improve air quality throughout the site through accurate monitoring of HVAC (heating, ventilation and air-conditioning) installations.

As part of its “Powering Sustainable Logistics” CSR programme, Bolloré Logistics has set itself the target of cutting its Scope 1 and 2 CO2 emissions by 43% by 2027.

Bolloré Logistics Greater China noted that Akila will contribute to the attainment of this objective.

“As a global player in the supply chain, we want to incorporate sustainable solutions into our processes in order to promote the decarbonisation of the logistics sector. Our partnership with Akila will enable us to monitor our environmental impact and reduce it as much as possible,” said Frédéric Marcerou, CEO of Bolloré Logistics Greater China.

Philippe Obry, chief innovation officer and co-founder of Akila, noted that Akila and Bolloré Logistics share the same goal in terms of sustainability for the logistics sector.

"The sector needs to adapt to a more data-driven model; this is why we are committed to the success of this partnership," Marcerou said.

"Moving forward, we hope to be able to put more solutions in place with Bolloré Logistics at their other sites throughout China."