Overview

The Motus values require us to be conscious of our environmental impacts when making business decisions and investments. Care for the environment is also included as part of our strategic pillar – to invest in human capital and ESG initiatives. We responsibly manage the environmental impacts within our control, contributing towards the urgent action needed to address the losses and potential damages caused by climate change.

Motus is not a carbon or water-intense business. Our strategies for water and energy consumption are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time bound (SMART). Over the past year, we started working on expanding our environmental strategy to include a more consistent and managed approach to recycling and waste, particularly as stakeholder expectation grows that companies participate in the circular economy. We have also for the first time reported against the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). An externally facilitated assessment was conducted in 2022 on our ESG maturity, particularly focusing on our environmental reporting, to identify gaps with stakeholder expectations and the disclosure requirements of our selected as well as emerging reporting frameworks and standards. Closing these gaps will be a key objective for the Group in 2023.

Globally, increasing concerns around energy security, climate change and the demand for oil are driving innovation in energy-saving technology and circular economies. Some governments are pushing legislation that forces a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions, including tightening global vehicle emissions standards. In addition, consumers care more about the health of the natural environment than they ever have before. As a result, there is mounting pressure on automotive manufacturers to change their offerings to lower emission vehicles (smaller vehicles) and new energy vehicles (NEVs). For the purposes of this report, NEV collectively refers to battery-powered electric vehicles (BEVs), plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) and the traditional hybrids (electric motor and battery pack running alongside the petrol engine) referred to as mild hybrid electric vehicles (MHEVs). Plug-in electric vehicles (EVs) refers to BEVs and PHEVs only.

We acknowledge that we operate in an industry that is a global polluter and that our industry must adapt to become a sustainable contributor. Original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) are introducing plug-in EV models in their product ranges with MHEVs having been around for some time. Through our OEM partners and our industry memberships, we keep abreast of and contribute to changes that support this adaptation. Aggressive NEV adoption targets will require a change in our portfolio of products, with the timing being dependent on OEM roll out and each country's regulations. We monitor the availability and pricing of NEV models and competitor activity which may indicate a shift in market readiness.

What we are doing

Investments

We invest in systems that harness cleaner energy (solar photovoltaic (PV) systems) and that provide a supply of water from alternative sources (rainwater harvesting systems). Between 10% and 15% of our investment in new build and property upgrade projects in South Africa is directed towards addressing aging and inefficient infrastructure, and green-linked installations that reduce our reliance on the electricity grid and municipal water. This strategic priority applies to our owned buildings and has been increased from the targeted 5% to 10% investment reported in 2021.

Sustainability-linked facilities

We have secured two sustainability-linked facilities – one a Pound-denominated facility co-ordinated by BNP Paribas and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, among others, and the other a Rand-denominated syndicated facility co-ordinated by Standard Bank ( see 2022 performance and key objectives). The facilities have been acquired based on years of measuring our environmental performance and our ability to meet targets.

Behavioural change

Our environmental training and awareness campaigns aim to influence employee behaviour and gain their support in achieving our environmental targets. Training at operational, business segment and regional level reinforces the importance of accurate and timely reporting of environmental data. Awareness raising takes place at individual brand level, for example during 2022, Kia included the responsible usage of resources and information about lower emissions vehicles in its induction programme, and Car Rental included articles on environmental management in some of its newsletters to employees.

Stakeholder engagement

As members of the National Business Initiative we gain insight on its Climate Pathways project, launched together with Business Unity South Africa and the Boston Consulting Group. The project aims to develop and manage a just transition for South Africa by developing a robust and well-researched base of knowledge to inform policy and planning. A collective view of what the decarbonisation pathways could look like for the South African economy is being developed together with the private sector and other relevant stakeholders from government, labour and civil society. Decarbonisation pathways for the power, mining, petrochemicals and chemicals sectors have already been developed.

Aftermarket parts

Nexus is the largest automotive global parts buying group with 159 members across 138 countries. Aftermarket Parts joined Nexus in January 2021 and the business segment's CEO is a member of the Nexus ESG committee. The committee is tasked with benchmarking the collective's ESG activities to worldwide standards, and transforming the industry starting with 'clean, green' workshops. Moving to greener workshops will be a slower process in South Africa, particularly in the informal workshop market. Nevertheless, Aftermarket Parts is focusing its efforts on waste management and creating environmental awareness. As a mechanism to reduce industry waste, the business segment is also starting to consider remanufactured products – returning a used product to at least its original performance with a warranty.

Accurate reporting

Improving the quality of our data is always a priority as it provides our stakeholders with the information they need to make accurate assessments of our environmental performance, and it aids our own decision-making and target setting. Our environmental guidelines and frameworks as well as the Group risk and sustainability function ensure that all business segments and regions are aware of their environmental reporting responsibilities.

Environmental compliance

We comply with all environmental-related legislation in each country of operation, including waste management regulation and, in South Africa, the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy's new Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) regulations. Our tax compliance function incorporates carbon emissions tax.

How we measure our performance

An accredited sustainability management system collates and tracks environmental and emissions data monthly from all business sites, covering owned, partially owned and leased sites in Africa, the United Kingdom (UK) and Australia. Data quality checks take place at head office and operational management level as well as by external assurance providers.

The Greenhouse Gas Protocol is used to calculate our carbon footprint, using the operational control boundary.

In the UK, the commercial vehicles business is ISO14001 certified, requiring our practices, policies and processes be reviewed annually and audited every three years.

Environmental targets

During 2022, we set new three-year environmental targets to 2024 for water, electricity and fuel. Our targets are based on normalised trading activity prior to COVID‑19. Targets were agreed with each business site and then consolidated into business segment and regional targets before being rolled up into a Group target. To ensure that our targets are fair and realistic, they will be adjusted annually for footprint (acquisitions, disposals and movement between business segments) and site-specific activity, for example, an office environment versus a workshop or parts distribution centre (PDC) where the quantum and type of resources consumed differ. Four years' worth of data has been used to calculate our targets.

	2022 target		2023 target		2024 target
Water (kilolitres)	554 999		538 349		522 199
Electricity (megawatt hours)	69 712		67 621		65 593
Vehicle fuel (litres)	18 531 442		18 336 683		17 786 582

To mature our reporting against business site targets, we agreed the following five measurement principles for the Group:

1. Every physical location must have one unique site registered on the sustainability management system.
2. If a building site fundamentally changes its operations, such as adding or closing a franchise on-site, the change must be formally logged on the system and metrics must still be reported.
3. Where a business moves location, the move must be formally logged on the system and targets still apply.
4. Metrics are to be reported for acquisitions; however, the measurement of change will only start from the following financial year after adjustments have been made to accommodate new targets.
5. Business segments and regions are allowed to change targets for their various sites; however, the total target for the business segment or region remains the same.

To simplify our measurement and reporting, we realigned the targets of our first sustainability-linked facility and linked our new Rand-denominated facility to our new three-year Group targets. Our facility-linked targets were then extended to include a gender diversity target.

	Baseline		2023		2024
Group
Water (kilolitres)	611 223  (2019)		Stretch: 12% – 538 349 Threshold: 5% – 581 417		Stretch: 15% – 522 199 Threshold: 10% – 548 309
Electricity (megawatt hours)	80 146  (2019)		Stretch: 16% – 67 621 Threshold: 11% – 71 003		Stretch: 18% – 65 593 Threshold: 16% – 67 233
Vehicle fuel (litres)	22 250 296  (2019)		Stretch: 18% – 18 336 683 Threshold: 13% – 19 253 517		Stretch: 20% – 17 786 582 Threshold: 18% – 18 231 248
South Africa
Female representation (top, senior, middle and junior management)	26%  (2021)		Stretch: 8% – 34% Threshold: 6% – 32%		Still to be determined

Governance of environmental impact.

¹ International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 14001 – the international standard for an effective environmental management system.