Reducing Your Carbon Footprint: Sustainable Supply Chains and Logistics for New Zealand SMEs
In today’s global market, reducing your carbon footprint is crucial for sustainable supply chain management. For New Zealand SMEs, this means adopting practices that not only benefit the environment, but also enhance business efficiency and reputation.
The Importance of Sustainability in Logistics
The latest ExportNZ DHL Export Barometer shows 62% of New Zealand exporters consider sustainability to be very important or important to their logistics and supply chain.
So, what are your green shipping options?
You can reduce your business’s carbon footprint through a mix of initiatives within your company and by finding the right partners.
Green packaging
Evaluating your green packaging processes is a good start. Ensure your items are packed in correctly sized boxes or design the packaging specifically to your products’ unique specifications. You want to use the smallest amount of packaging possible and pack things as small as possible.
There is no point in shipping ‘fresh air’ around the world or wasting packaging material because your product is much smaller than the packaging you are using.
Then, wherever possible you want to select recyclable, compostable or biodegradable packaging material or select packaging that has a clear ability to be re-used for something useful.
By doing these things you also have the added bonus of being able to save costs on shipping and build your reputation credentials with customers.
Steps towards carbon offsetting and insetting
Every business generates a carbon footprint, which is the total amount of greenhouse gases released directly or indirectly through its activities.
You can use the DHL Carbon Calculator to estimate carbon emissions for different transport scenarios. Then the question becomes, how you can offset or inset your carbon emissions?
Carbon offsetting involves compensating for these emissions by funding projects that reduce carbon outside the business’s immediate operations, or purchasing carbon credits.
On the other hand, carbon insetting focuses on reducing emissions within the business’s own supply chain. Examples include planting trees near your operations, a restaurant growing its own vegetables to cut down on supplier emissions, or switching to sustainable fuel sources.
DHL GoGreen logistics experts can also help you have an overall picture of your carbon footprint and more carbon detail about your DHL shipments across all transport legs, modes and trade lanes.
Connect with one of our experts here to for more information or add GoGreen Plus directly to your next shipment when booking through our platform.
Go Green with your shipping
DHL Express’ GoGreen Plus allows customers to reduce the CO2e emissions associated with their international shipments by using Sustainable Air Fuel (SAF).
SAF is a better option as it reduces the amount of carbon getting into the air, instead of trying to get it out of the atmosphere.
Conventional carbon-intensive aviation fuels or kerosene are derived from mineral oil. Whereas SAF is made from alternative raw materials with sustainable energy profiles, including used cooking oil, waste and hydrogen.
With GoGreen Plus you can choose the amount of SAF according to your needs, including the extent of carbon reduction, the availability of certificates and reporting tools.
By adopting these sustainable practices, New Zealand exporters can significantly reduce their carbon footprint, enhance their brand reputation, and improve overall business efficiency.
Still not sure where to start? DHL GoGreen logistics experts can develop tailor-made recommendations for improving the carbon footprint of your supply chain.
At DHL Express, we have been providing quality shipping services to businesses of all sizes for more than 50 years. We are experts in the shipping industry, and our team is dedicated to ensuring that your shipments arrive on time and in perfect condition.
Sign up for an account today or get in touch with our team to learn how DHL Express can help your small business in New Zealand.
