The greenhouse gas emissions trajectories of Southeast Asia’s two largest ride-hailing companies appear to be headed in different directions.
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According to their latest sustainability reports, the carbon footprint of Singapore-headquartered Grab, Southeast Asia’s largest ride-hailer, increased by 21 per cent in 2023 while the emissions of GoTo, which owns Indonesian ride-hailing app Gojek, dropped by 11 per cent.
The difference in emissions performance comes as Grab reported 2023 revenue growth of 30 per cent, while GoTo’s revenue grew by just 3 per cent. Neither company is profitable.
This is the second year in succession that Grab’s emissions have grown. Last year, GoTo’s emissions also increased.
Grab, which operates in eight markets in Southeast Asia, attributed its emissions jump, from 2.04 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2e) in 2022 to 2.47 million tCO2e in 2023, to a rise in demand for its services – a rebound seen after the Covid-19 pandemic.
The company’s Scope 1 or direct emissions jumped by 142 per cent, Scope 2 emissions from procured electricity increased by 15 per cent and Scope 3 or full value chain emissions – which make up more than 95 per cent of the emissions profile of both Grab and GoTo – by 20 per cent.
The emissions intensity of Grab’s mobility and delivery services – that is, the amount of carbon dioxide emitted per trip – declined by 2.1 per cent and 8.2 per cent, respectively.
Grab has restated its 2022 and 2021 emissions figures in its 2023 sustainability report. A “formulation error” in calculating its Scope 3 emissions resulted in total emissions in 2022 being 64 per cent higher than the corrected figure for that year.
GoTo, which operates Gojek in five territories in the region, said that the shrinking of its carbon footprint, from 976,953 tCO2e to 872,632 tCO2e, was largely a result of improved routing and operational efficiencies for Tokopedia, the Indonesian e-commerce platform it sold a controlling stake to TikTok to this January.
The Jakarta-based company saw major drops in emissions from purchased goods and services (down 12 per cent) and capital goods (down 64 per cent), which contribute significantly to GoTo’s Scope 3 emissions.
The company’s Scope 2 emissions jumped by 27 per cent.
Grab and GoTo, which both started reporting their emissions in 2021, have been working to cut their emissions by electrifying their vehicles, using more renewable energy, and optimising the routes their drivers take.
Grab is aiming for carbon neutrality by 2040, a target that the firm has said would be hard to achieve due to ambitious business growth targets in a fossil fuel-dependent region where electric vehicle infrastructure is in its infancy.
GoTo set a target to achieve “zero emissions” by 2030 in 2021, and had its decarbonisation target approved by the Science Based Targets initiative, a global standard for corporate net zero goals, in December. The company has also spoken of the challenges of decarbonising, particularly reducing Scope 3 emissions.
Grab was targeted by a Malaysian environmental group in March for charging its customers a fee to offset the climate footprint of their travel that is based on a discredited carbon credits scheme in Indonesia.
