The background noise regarding the automotive sector’s environmental responsibilities is so overwhelming that it becomes difficult to distinguish between words and concrete actions.

Commitments to reduce emissions contributing to global warming are multiplying. Material manufacturers, equipment suppliers, transporters, and even insurance companies are establishing their roadmaps to implement environmental, social, and governance (ESG) criteria.

We all feel confronted by the same challenges, and it’s clear that we must work together to meet the industry’s expectations and ambitions.

I must cite my own organization’s strategy to illustrate my point.

For the past two years, we have been considering this issue and have commissioned PCW Canada, a specialized firm, to help us establish our ESG strategy so that we can begin its implementation through the internal committee we have formed on this matter before the end of the year. Fix Network’s mission is to transform the automotive aftermarket by bringing together the best tools, technologies, and talents to help our network thrive. Reducing our environmental impact, attracting qualified personnel with an inclusive culture, and offering a top-notch customer experience through innovation are all key priorities for us. We want concrete actions, not just advertising slogans.

For our network, this will involve our management, our corporate workshops, but ultimately also our franchisees. Our few corporate workshops will allow us to validate our approaches, for example, to see how we can repair more instead of replacing parts and the environmental impact that entails. And we, the management, can we reduce our travel in the age of videoconferencing? In short, a strategy to see how we can each change our ways to reduce our carbon footprint at all levels.

Let’s be realistic

I am well aware that the body shop is the focal point of this environmental issue. This same shop that is currently struggling to find staff to help it, that invests in training and equipment to be able to repair and calibrate the modern cars entrusted to it, and that is gradually preparing for the arrival of electric vehicles. We ask a lot from the body shop.

The financial burden that this enhancement of our practices might cause cannot be shouldered by the body shop alone. Hence the importance of mobilizing all players in the sector from the start and along the way, including insurers.

There is certainly an urgency to act, but let’s take the time to identify and validate solutions. Let’s keep profitability and sustainability in mind for our businesses.

By progressing methodically and intelligently, it will take us more or less three years to implement our validated solutions with our partners at all levels. It’s longer than making promises, but it will undoubtedly prove more durable and significant.