At Exotec, sustainability starts with numbers

Romain Moulin

CEO

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November 4,2026

At Exotec, we build robots. Our systems move millions of items every day in warehouses across the world. And over the past few years, one reality has become impossible to ignore: these flows of goods have an impact on the planet that cannot be externalised or minimised.

That is what drove us to measure our carbon footprint and take sustainability seriously. I want to share that process, because it says something important not only about Exotec, but about what the logistics industry should look after in my opinion.

Sustainable? Measure first

When we design a system, we do not work by intuition: we measure, analyse, identify where to act, improve, then measure again. We applied that same method to sustainability with the measure our footprint, to understand where it is concentrated and identify the levers for action, act, then repeat.

This is not a posture. It produces concrete results: by working on the weight of our racks and totes, we reduced our carbon footprint, lowered transport costs and improved the overall efficiency of our systems simultaneously.

That is one of the lessons of this process: sustainability and efficiency are not in opposition. Very often, they reinforce each other. A lighter system consumes less energy to manufacture, less fuel to transport, and costs less to install. What is good for the planet is also, generally, good for business.

Sustainability is also longevity

There is a dimension still too rarely discussed in our industry: the relationship between the quality of a system, its operational lifespan, and its true carbon footprint.

One of the most significant factors in calculating that footprint is how long a system stays in use. A system that lasts twenty years amortises its manufacturing impact over twenty years. One replaced after five years because it has become unfit for purpose represents wasted carbon investment and a new cycle of manufacturingExotec shares how it measured its carbon footprint and why the logistics industry can no longer ignore the environmental impact of moving goods., transport and installation begins again.

There is a great deal of discussion about energy consumption during operation, and very little about the carbon cost of premature replacement. This is one of the blind spots of the sustainability debate in our sector.

The quality and flexibility of our systems are therefore not merely commercial arguments. They are sustainability imperatives in their own right.

A system capable of adapting to a customer’s evolving needs over ten, fifteen, twenty years is inherently more sustainable than a rigid one, which will eventually need replacing once those needs outgrow it.

The same logic applies to durability: a system that isn’t built to last will need replacing too, regardless of how well it fits the customer’s needs.

Transparency as a commitment

In July 2025, Exotec reached an important milestone: the carbon footprint of our solutions is now included in all our commercial proposals. Every customer, every prospect, receives this information as part of their offer.

This required years of rigour. Knowing the precise footprint of every component, from robots to racks, from totes to stations, is not straightforward.

It requires tracing supply chains, questioning suppliers, and building reliable models component by component. But once that granularity exists, we can offer customers something genuinely valuable: the ability to calculate their own footprint accurately and manage their environmental commitments with full visibility.

Our share of the work, and everyone else’s

Exotec cannot change the industry alone. We can measure, improve, communicate, and bring our suppliers along with us. But the transition to genuinely sustainable logistics will only happen if every player in the chain does the same work.

This is why we do not limit ourselves to acting internally. We push our suppliers to measure and reduce their own footprint, and we call on the industry to adopt the same standards of measurement and reporting, so that comparing solutions on an objective basis finally becomes possible. Today, this is a collective blind spot the industry must address.

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