Andrew Savage, VP Sustainability & Founding Team, Lime

Meaningful Business (MB): What are the challenges you are trying to solve, and why do they matter to you?

Andrew Savage (AS): There is no greater challenge today than tackling climate change. While the transportation sector is vital to moving people and goods, it’s also one of the leading contributors to climate pollution. Our over-reliance on personal vehicles, particularly in urban areas, also contributes to congestion, particulate pollution, and constraints on vital public spaces in cities worldwide. By relying more on cleaner two-wheeled transportation instead of four, we can free up space currently occupied by cars to create more livable cities, making housing more affordable, bike lanes more feasible, and parks and curbside dining more accessible.

At Lime, we’re all about making transportation more affordable, accessible, and carbon-free. Sustainability for us isn’t just a modal shift away from heavy polluting cars – we prioritise creating a more sustainable future by holding ourselves to the highest standards. 

We were the first company in the micromobility space to set a science-based carbon target across all emissions in line with the Paris Climate Accord, and to have it validated through one of the leading corporate target-setting organisations in the world, the Science-based Targets Initiative (SBTi). 

We have since doubled down on our ambition to decarbonise and are committed to reaching net-zero by 2030. As a result of our efforts to meet these ambitious targets, in 2024, we achieved a 66.8% reduction in carbon emissions intensity compared to our 2019 baseline.

MB: How are your programmes tackling these challenges and what impact are they having?

We know that to achieve the carbon savings we hope to see from our service, we need to do everything in our control to decarbonise the business itself. Achieving a 66.8% reduction in our carbon emissions intensity was no small feat and required a focused effort on decarbonisation across the entire business. We have an active Sustainability Council, comprising leaders from various departments across Lime, which drives our internal sustainability initiatives. 

We continue to invest in our hardware for longer-lasting, easily repairable vehicles; utilise swappable batteries across our entire fleet; power our vehicles, warehouses, and offices with renewable energy; swap out dozens of gas vans for operations with EVs; and drastically reduce high–emitting air shipments for vehicles and parts. We also became one of the first cargo owners to commit to decarbonising our trucks for port-to-hub shipping, using EV trucks for all of our North American shipping and lower-emissions HVO100 for Rotterdam-bound shipments.  

As a validation of our progress, we also pioneered a new pathway for micromobility through the rigorous California Low Carbon Fuel Standard. As a result of our effort, we’re now 4 years ahead of our Scope 1 & 2 net-zero target and 2 years ahead of our Scope 3 target.

MB: How do you work with partners and the broader ecosystem to achieve your mission?

AS: Today, Lime’s impact and measurable progress toward our ambitious carbon goals have helped drive global confidence that shared micromobility has a meaningful place in a future of carbon-free urban travel. But we know we can’t decarbonise our business or transportation alone. It will take the collaboration of partners and industry leaders to help us achieve this goal. 

• We power all our vehicles and facilities with 100% renewable energy, often partnering with local utilities and energy suppliers where possible.
• We source lower-carbon aluminium for key components, such as battery housings, and utilise batteries from LG, produced using renewable energy. 

• For shipping logistics, all port-to-hub trucking between North America and Rotterdam now utilises low-carbon transport. In North America, we partnered with Hight Logistics to utilise electric trucks for zero-emissions port transportation, hauling Lime’s vehicles and parts to our logistics hubs. Following this successful effort, we began using Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO100)-fueled trucks for port-to-hub trucking in Rotterdam, as well as for hub-to-market hauls from Rotterdam, reducing emissions by 90% while simultaneously encouraging hauliers to shift to electric vehicles as the market matures.

• We are committed to creating a more circular supply chain for our vehicles and materials, furthering the circularity of the e-mobility industry. In April, we launched our partnership with Redwood Materials to recover and recycle critical battery materials, such as lithium, cobalt, nickel, and copper, from Lime’s e-bike and e-scooter batteries at the end of their usable life, thereby reintroducing those materials into the supply chain. We also collaborate with Cyclic Materials to recycle magnets from retired electric motors that power e-bikes and e-scooters across Canada and the United States, thereby reducing the need for virgin materials and supporting a more sustainable mobility supply chain.

MB: What is your ambition for the future of your business, and how do you measure success?

AS: Our ambition is to build a business that is a strong force for good, creating enduring value for our riders, city partners, stakeholders, and the planet. We always knew that to achieve the lasting sustainability impact we wanted, we needed to build a viable business that could be sustained over the long term. That required being profitable. Now that we’ve achieved that critical milestone, we will continue to be laser-focused on growing the business while driving further sustainable practices and efficiencies throughout our business and supply chain. This means embedding climate-conscious decision-making into our operations and strategy, encompassing everything from product design and manufacturing to logistics, maintenance, and end-of-life management. 

We measure success by achieving our ambitious decarbonisation targets and staying on track with decarbonising our business. But equally important to our success is how we help shape policy, infrastructure and public perception to prioritise sustainable, and two-wheeled transportation. In short, to make cities more livable and sustainable. We aim to help cities and people move more freely with a reduced carbon footprint. Building the future relies on continuing to demonstrate value during this crucial transition. At the end of the day, success is not just about meeting our own goals; it’s about raising the bar for the entire micromobility and transportation industry.

Quickfire Questions

MB: Can you share a mistake with us that you’ve learned from?

AS: When we started the business, we thought that cities would quickly adopt what we were offering, perhaps naively, despite having no prior experience operating in these markets. We quickly learned that we needed to build trust and operational know-how, starting with smaller markets and building credibility from there. Having done that, today we operate successfully in some of the world’s largest and most sophisticated cities, from Los Angeles and Chicago to London, Paris, and Tel Aviv.

MB: What is something you wish you were better at?

AS: Being patient. I want to be constantly moving things forward, even when there are times things just need a moment to ultimately move. This is particularly true in our decarbonisation efforts, as many third parties we rely on across our supply chain and logistics are still in the early stages of their decarbonisation journeys.

MB: What underrated skill do you wish more impact-focused leaders invested time and energy in?

AS: Communicating the “Why.”

MB: What is the one book that everyone should read?

AS: “The Perfect Mile” by Neal Bascomb.

MB: What are the sites, blogs or podcasts that you can’t imagine your day without? 

AS: Hands down, The New York Times.