KeHE Distributors LLC: The Shore Power Project

KeHE Distributors LLC., a $5.5 billion in revenues Illinois-based B Corp certified supplier of natural and organic food products across North America conducted a pilot study in 2020-2021 involving switching to shore power (using electricity instead of a truck's engine power) in bringing the temperature to desired levels in the refrigerated containers in their trucking fleet. The switch would have a positive effect on the environment in terms of lower carbon emissions in addition to cost savings. Tom Harden, KeHE's Senior Manager of Fleet Assets along with Laura McCord, the organization's Executive Director of Sustainability and Corporate Responsibility, had to decide on whether to seek approval for the project using both financial and sustainability metrics or to conduct an additional pilot study to better understand the controllable and uncontrollable factors that led to cost savings. The company had done poorly on the environmental dimension in the 2020 certification. Two factors made the decision both urgent and important. One was the necessity of applying early to receive rebates from state agencies that would help lower the capital cost of the project. The second was the fact that the company was facing a B Corp certification process in two years' time that involved more stringent criteria on the environmental front.

• Natural resources
• Business and society