The Future Is Green: Rob Safrata Of Novex Delivery Solutions, Coast to Coast Experiences On Their Top Strategies for a Cleaner Planet
An Interview With Wanda Malhotra
Find the people in your organization that care about this and make sure it includes some senior executives.
As we face an unprecedented environmental crisis, the need for sustainable solutions has never been more urgent. This series seeks to spotlight the innovative minds and passionate advocates who are leading the charge in environmental conservation and sustainable practices. We aim to explore the most effective strategies, breakthrough technologies, and transformative policies that are shaping a more sustainable future for our planet. As a part of this series, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Rob Safrata.
Rob Safrata is a Vancouver CEO of two social purpose and climate-leading companies: Novex Delivery Solutions and Coast to Coast Experiences. As a purpose-driven CEO, he was recognized for climate action by the Globe and Mail stating, “You won’t find a greener chief executive officer than Robert Safrata.” Whether he is working in the transportation space or building an international tourism company, by focusing on the triple bottom line, he ensures environmental and social responsibility are cornerstones of the businesses.
Thank you so much for joining us! Before we dive in, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’?
My journey started in the early 2000s when I purchased a local same-day courier company. Little did I know that this decision would profoundly influence the way I conducted business.
Upon acquiring Novex Delivery Solutions, I stepped into an industry where many drivers relied on old, fuel-inefficient vehicles. Driver turnover rates were alarmingly high, averaging around 40%. At that time, the automotive world saw the emergence of hybrid vehicles, capable of reducing pollution by 50% and harmful particulate matter by a remarkable 99%. I saw an opportunity not only to upgrade our driver’s vehicles but also to empower our drivers to benefit financially from these changes.
This marked the inception of our journey towards operating as a “triple bottom line” business. The big question we faced was, “How could we transform our company and our practices to simultaneously benefit people, planet, and profits?” This transformation necessitated a significant shift in the way we did business.
This pivotal moment initiated our commitment to sustainability and clean, eco-friendly practices in the courier industry.
Can you share with us the most interesting story from your career? Can you tell us what lessons or ‘takeaways’ you learned from that?
In 2003, within the context of Novex, the concept of environmental sustainability, or ‘being green’ was not yet part of the corporate culture. Back then, our staff made an initial try at environmentally conscious practices and placed bricks in the toilet tanks to reduce water consumption during flushes. This early experience proved to be a humorous lesson for us, we needed to get serious and learn how to truly make an impact.
It also underscored the fact that we were navigating uncharted territory and that, to thrive in this new landscape, we had to embark on a journey of self-education. We recognized that the traditional lens through which we conducted business was no longer adequate. To remain relevant and responsible, we had to reorient our perspective, embracing sustainability as a core principle and developing an understanding of the broader implications of ‘being green.’
This transformation marked the beginning of our commitment to continuous learning and adaptation, which has since been instrumental in our evolution into an environmentally conscious and sustainable organization.
You are a successful leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?
“How” was the big question and it demanded that we, and our customers, change the way we do business. We even asked ourselves if we were going to be a green company that delivered packages, or a courier company that didn’t pollute the lungs of the people in our community.
Fortunately, I was joined by an incredible team who, after learning about the effects of climate change, were enthusiastic to make a difference and have an impact — from sustainability strategies, to culture, to defining the purpose behind why our staff came to work.
This work is both practical and aspirational. We offset costs so our drivers could upgrade to hybrid vehicles. We solved this by selling full wrap advertising on the cars to like-minded and forward thinking companies such as Vancity and passed the advertising revenue to the drivers. This achieved 1. One known benefit, 2. Another hoped for benefit and 3. An unanticipated benefit:
- Less pollution. This was known and led to benefits number two and three below. We really were (and still are) the change.
- Increased business! Doing the good work and the right thing gave us the hoped for advantage over our competition. More businesses started deliberately choosing to work with Novex because we were focused on sustainability and making a positive impact on our shared community and environment.
- Increased morale of our drivers. They were proud to be using hybrids and minimizing pollution. This resulted in significantly less turnover, less costs in hiring and training, resulting in increased profit. Today we have less than 15% driver turnover and the increased profit goes towards our environmental and social work.
Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that might help people?
My tour bus business, CTCE, is partnering with several stakeholders to create the first rapid, deployable, end-to-end Vehicle/Bus-to-Grid (V2G/B2G) mobile power infrastructure, allowing stored energy in our electric bus fleet to support power grids such as BC Hydro’s peaking and demand response initiatives. The plan for bidirectional charging and mobile grid infrastructure will open up the possibility for the monetization of electric fleets. Helping to drive this project are key partners, including BC Hydro, Lion Electric, Borgwarner Chargers, Fermata Energy, and Powertech labs.
The CTCE project will prove that large batteries from CTCE’s electrical bus fleet can offset BC Hydro’s peaking capacity during key periods of the day and year, as well as lay the groundwork for future deployable V2G charging hubs in North America.
Ok, thank you for all that. Now let’s shift to the main focus of our interview. What pivotal moment led you to dedicate your career to sustainability, and how has that shaped your approach to environmental challenges?
I have to give credit where credit is due. My wife of almost 40 years, Jacqueline Koerner, has been a lifelong environmental and social leader in her work, education and values. She is the founding Chair of Ecotrust Canada 30 years ago, so I was exposed to thought leaders. When I bought a local same day courier in 2000, she asked, “What are you doing buying such a polluting business.” My answer was, “Because I can clean it up.”
When people ask me what I do now, I say, “I buy dirty companies and clean them up.”
Could you describe a groundbreaking project or initiative you’ve been involved in that significantly contributed to sustainability?
We are very proud that our courier company, Novex Courier, has reduced its carbon footprint by over 59% as of 2020 and we will be net zero by 2030, not 2050. This accomplishment will be achieved in a very “dirty” industry and with very little capital.
How do you navigate the balance between economic growth and environmental preservation in your sustainability strategies?
I love this question and it’s the one I get most often from the naysayers. I give a talk where I ask, “Do you want sales to grow, costs to reduce, brand image to grow, and risks to decrease? Then I show them the green and social initiatives we implemented to achieve these.
Furthermore, many executives won’t make a choice that costs 10–15% more. We figured out how to get our drivers out of their $3,000 beaters and into new Hybrids (in 2005), reducing pollution by 50% and contaminants by 99%. That’s an upcharge of 10X and our business and profits grew — so it can be done.
What emerging technologies or innovations do you believe hold the most promise for advancing sustainability and why?
For us in the transportation industry, it’s V2X, vehicle to everything, transferring electricity to the grid, buildings and houses, monetizing the value of the battery in your electric vehicle, especially trucks and buses.
Based on your research or experience, can you please share your “5 Top Strategies for a Cleaner Planet”?
- Companies can get an environmental audit of their emissions. This will give them numbers to show them where the low hanging fruit and large emissions are.
- Find the people in your organization that care about this and make sure it includes some senior executives.
- Start with easy wins to set the tone company wide.
- Study those who have done it and best practices.
- Make a bold statement and be serious (if you aren’t, trust will decrease).
In your view, what are the key steps individuals, communities, and governments need to take to achieve a more sustainable future?
The lesson and my personal takeaway from this experience is that as a triple bottom line company — is really just a proxy for better management and trust. If you are ready to make the change, willing to get creative, get buy-in from your team — then business will be the solution.
You are a person of enormous influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
I am sincerely trying and mainly hope that people will think of their legacy and the next generation.
What is the best way for our readers to continue to follow your work online?
LinkedIn at Robert Safrata : https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertsafrata/
This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for the time you spent on this. We wish you only continued success.
About the Interviewer: Wanda Malhotra is a wellness entrepreneur, lifestyle journalist, and the CEO of Crunchy Mama Box, a mission-driven platform promoting conscious living. CMB empowers individuals with educational resources and vetted products to help them make informed choices. Passionate about social causes like environmental preservation and animal welfare, Wanda writes about clean beauty, wellness, nutrition, social impact and sustainability, simplifying wellness with curated resources. Join Wanda and the Crunchy Mama Box community in embracing a healthier, more sustainable lifestyle at CrunchyMamaBox.com.
The Future Is Green: Rob Safrata Of Novex Delivery Solutions, Coast to Coast Experiences On Their… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.