Flipkart pledges 100% transition to electric vehicles by 2030; commits to the Climate Group’s EV100 initiative

–    First Indian e-commerce marketplace to join the Climate Group’s EV100 initiative

–      Commits to the electrification of logistics fleet across Flipkart Group of companies, integrating charging infrastructure and encouraging uptake by its staff

 Bengaluru – August 25, 2020: Demonstrating a commitment to long-term sustainability across its e-commerce value chain, Flipkart, India’s homegrown e-commerce marketplace today announced its commitment to transition to electric vehicles (EVs) by joining the Climate Group’s global electric mobility initiative, EV100. EV100 brings together forward-looking companies committed to accelerating the transition to electric vehicles (EVs) and making electric transport the new normal by 2030.

As a part of this commitment and to support wider adoption of EVs, Flipkart is committing to a phased integration of electric vehicles into its entire fleet (directly owned or leased corporate fleets) by 2030. This will be done through placing requirements in service contracts, installing charging infrastructure close to its 1,400 supply chain premises, conducting awareness programs and incentivizing delivery executives towards the use of electric vehicles. Evangelising EVs across the breadth of its ecosystem of employees, delivery partners and workers, Flipkart will spearhead the sector’s sustainability transformation, and support India’s ambition of ensuring 30% electric mobility by 2030.

Kalyan Krishnamurthy, CEO, Flipkart Group, said, “As a homegrown company, we always pride ourselves in making e-commerce more inclusive, progressive and impactful for all our stakeholders, which also includes communities and the planet. We have been applying this ethos to the indigenous market to serve our consumer’s needs responsibly and consciously. Our commitment to the Climate Group’s EV100 initiative ties in with this larger vision of environmental sustainability and allows us to learn from the most forward-thinking global perspectives as part of the EV100 ecosystem. With our scale & scope and intense focus on Sustainability agenda, we believe we can play a significant role in not just fast tracking the adoption of electric vehicles but also making clean mobility mainstream.”

Flipkart has a strong vision towards sustainability and has proactively and successfully adopted several sustainable practices across its business operations. Electrification of its entire logistics fleet is a key part of Flipkart’s larger sustainability goal and the EV100 commitment is in line with that. Over the past year, Flipkart has worked towards creating a wide network of ecosystem partners across charging providers, regulators, policy makers, skill development agencies, aggregators and OEMs to work on various areas. These include designing and the manufacturing of EVs optimized for e-commerce while supporting market demand for EVs to emerge as a mainstream mobility solution.

Divya Sharma, India Executive Director, Climate Group, said, “The Climate Group is thrilled to see Flipkart signing up to EV100 and step up to lead the adoption of electric vehicles in the e-commerce sector in India. Flipkart will play a significant role in fostering innovation in technology and exchanging knowledge on e-mobility within our global network of committed businesses. To help make swift emissions cuts and improve air quality for the long-term, we urge more Indian companies to follow suit, sending a powerful signal of support to policymakers wishing to see a faster roll-out of EVs.”

As the first e-commerce player in India to join the globally recognized EV100 initiative, Flipkart is uniquely placed to further EV100’s goal of catalyzing corporate leadership for Electric Vehicles uptake in India. This will also be an opportunity to learn from over 70 forward-looking companies from across the globe, committed to accelerating the transition to electric vehicles (EVs).

Flipkart is focused on fostering sustainable practices across its business and value chain. The company has been driving several initiatives towards its vision of sustainable growth. Flipkart has committed to reducing single-use plastic packaging in its supply chain and has already achieved a 51 per cent reduction in consumption of plastic packaging. Flipkart is also the only e-commerce company to have an industry-first EPR authorization where we have committed to collecting back the entire weight of the packaging that we use. Flipkart has also been focused on resource efficiency within its operations by increasing the use of renewable energy for its power needs and introducing projects to increase the overall energy productivity, as well as encouraging zero liquid discharge of wastewater in its warehouses. Its strategic facilities have received an ISO 14001 certification, a crucial benchmark for the preparedness to prevent environmental pollution in the workplace. Flipkart’s data centre in Hyderabad runs largely on renewable energy and many of its large warehouse projects are being constructed in line with IGBC’s Green Building Guidelines.