Agility is working to support UNHCR and other NGOs around the world in their efforts to support refugees and internally displaced people in Ukraine, reaching 1,700 people to date:

• Agility held an internal fundraiser for UNHCR, in support of their Ukraine refugee response. UNHCR is working inside Ukraine as well as in neighbouring countries, providing critically needed relief items and protection services. All donated funds were matched by Agility.
• Agility supported the Children of War Foundation by donating the transportation of three pallets of medical and life support supplies from Los Angeles, California to Krakow, Poland. The supplies were taken to Lviv, Ukraine by ambulance, and distributed to beneficiaries.
• Working with Shipa Delivery, Agility transported two lorries of refugee items for the Kuwait Red Crescent Society (KRCS) for onward delivery to Romania. All items were donated by the local community in Kuwait. The KRCS is delivering them by air to Romania where they will be distributed to refugees. The donations included food, medicine, and other items that are needed by refugees.
• Agility has also been working closely with the UN Global Logistics Cluster in their response to the crisis.

This June, Agility Spain has committed to source 100% renewable energy for all facilities (offices and warehouses). The renewable sourcing guarantee comes in the form of renewable energy credits (RECs) from Nexus Energía, a renewable energy provider active in Spain, Portugal and Germany.

RECs come in units of kilowatt hours and offset electricity generated from non-renewable sources. They are different from carbon offsets, which are measured in tons of CO2 and offset emissions from any source. RECs are a finite asset, limited to the country’s total production of electricity from renewable sources in that year. Spain’s Guarantee of Origin system for RECs helps to ensure that corporate sustainability efforts contribute directly to driving the development of renewable energy generation in the Iberian Peninsula.

Transitioning to renewable energy, whether for electricity or fuel, is the most important action Agility operations can take to reduce our environmental impact. Where installing solar panels is not possible or economically viable, RECs offer a great alternative to reduce our carbon footprint and drive positive change in our communities.

Since 2011, Agility has been working to reduce power consumption and CO2 emissions from our data centers/servers in Irvine, California and Leeds, UK. In Irvine, an original virtualization and consolidation project in 2011 reduced the server totals by over 60%. A second consolidation project reduced the number again by a further 60% in 2015. Today, our total average electricity usage has decreased to 69% of peak usage in 2011, saving over 45 tonnes of CO2 emissions each year. A similar exercise at our data center in Leeds reduced energy consumption to more than 83% less than peak usage in 2010, saving over 60 tons of CO2 emissions each year. A forthcoming hardware upgrade is expected to reduce energy consumption by a further 50%.

An Agility Switzerland employee completed a bicycle ride from London to Paris to raise money for Bloodwise, a UK based charity driving research into the 137 types of blood cancer. Agility supported her efforts by making a financial contribution to Bloodwise to support cancer research. Blood cancer, such as Leukemia, is the third largest cancer killer in the world, claiming more lives than breast or prostate cancer each year. The funds raised will assist in research that will help nearly 8 in 10 children with Leukemia survive.

An Agility UK employee participated in the Palestine Marathon to support the SKT Welfare Charity’s water desalination project in Gaza, which aims to provide clean, drinkable water to the civilians in Palestine, where almost 90% of the water is undrinkable. The amount raised was enough to run SKT Welfare’s desalination plants for 16 days, or almost 800,000 liters of water.

Four Agility Chemicals employees, based in Liverpool, U.K., volunteered their time to give a chemical safety workshop to nearly 200 students, ages 9-11 years old. In addition to giving safety tips and knowledge on chemical safety at home, the employees also gave students insights into the world of supply chain logistics.

The Agility Liverpool Chemicals team collected more than 140 pyjamas for “Pyjama Party Liverpool”, an annual collection drive for low-income families. Through posting posters for surrounding offices to donate, they were able to collect 146 pyjamas for babies, children and young people, in a short period of time.

An Agility employee in the Netherlands supported a local charity by helping sort and ship school equipment to Albania. A group of 14 volunteers collected 220 tables and chairs from a local elementary school, sorted them by size, stacked and loaded them in a truck with several large bags of donated clothes, to ready them for a shipment to Albania. Schools in Albania received the shipment in October.