Sustainable Logistics Guidebook
Get your step-by-step guide to minimizing transport emissions and decarbonizing your supply chain
Sustainability is no longer a subject that companies can afford to ignore. Consumers, suppliers, shareholders, and regulators are expecting to see change. You may feel that your transport emissions are out of your hands, but it is possible to take control of the carbon emissions generated by your freight logistics. Use this guidebook to discover your options and evaluate what could work for your business!
Your Circular Path to Decarbonization
Let us walk you through each step of the decarbonization process – from getting a clear picture of your carbon footprint and setting science-based targets to understanding and accessing the right carbon reduction tools. You will find best practice examples and questions to ask yourself along the way.
What You Will Find in the Guidebook
Step 1: Know Your Carbon Footprint
Transparency on the carbon footprint is essential for determining whether there is a potential for improvement, setting realistic goals and monitoring progress. Find out how to determine whether you’re working with accurate and valuable data and identify tools that may help get you the right data.
Step 2: Set Your CO2 Reduction Targets
Join the Science-Based Targets Initiative (SBTi)
No two businesses have the same supply chain setup or follow the same path to low-carbon logistics. But through SBTi’s five-step process for setting science-based targets, you can demonstrate tangible sustainability commitments and boost investor confidence.
Discover these five steps and how you can make a difference.
Step 3: Identify Your Carbon Reduction Levers
Burning less and burning clean – for each of the carbon reduction levers of the guidebook, you’ll find a list of questions to help you determine if it’s a good fit for your supply chain.
Lever 1 – Modal Shift and Multimodal Solutions
Modal shifts are the most straightforward carbon reduction lever, but they also present challenges and require solid planning. Exploring and aligning the available options with your needs and goals can lead to substantial CO2 and cost savings.
Lever 2 – Carrier Selection and Routing Optimization
The amount of fuel needed to carry your freight, which determines the carbon emissions of each shipment, partly depends on the vehicle types and shipping routes. Considering these factors when selecting a carrier can result in carbon reduction.
Lever 3 – Shipment Consolidation
Shipments may come in all shapes and sizes, but shipping containers do not. There are only a few standard types. Your transport emissions are mostly measured by container, regardless of how full they are. By sharing container space, you can immediately increase the carbon efficiency of individual shipments.
Lever 4 – Leverage Sustainable fuels
Logistics can play a significant role in the global effort to stop climate change by quickly increasing the share of clean transport movements. Until recently, it was only possible to send carbon-neutral shipments by offsetting the transport emissions. Now, sustainable fuels can be used to fully decarbonize freight transport and even entire supply chains.
Lever 1 – Modal Shift and Multimodal Solutions
Modal shifts are the most straightforward carbon reduction lever, but they also present challenges and require solid planning. Exploring and aligning the available options with your needs and goals can lead to substantial CO2 and cost savings.
Lever 2 – Carrier Selection and Routing Optimization
The amount of fuel needed to carry your freight, which determines the carbon emissions of each shipment, partly depends on the vehicle types and shipping routes. Considering these factors when selecting a carrier can result in carbon reduction.
Lever 3 – Shipment Consolidation
Shipments may come in all shapes and sizes, but shipping containers do not. There are only a few standard types. Your transport emissions are mostly measured by container, regardless of how full they are. By sharing container space, you can immediately increase the carbon efficiency of individual shipments.
Lever 4 – Leverage Sustainable fuels
Logistics can play a significant role in the global effort to stop climate change by quickly increasing the share of clean transport movements. Until recently, it was only possible to send carbon-neutral shipments by offsetting the transport emissions. Now, sustainable fuels can be used to fully decarbonize freight transport and even entire supply chains.
Step 4: Select and Evaluate Your Key Trade Lanes
Every Supply Chain Is Different and Has Unique Potential
To make most of your decarbonbization efforts, it’s important to reflect on your needs, assess where you can make the most significant impact, and balance your requirements in terms of costs, transit time, and desired emissions reductions.
We share two key pieces of advice and a checklist to make it work.
Step 5: Decide and Implement
Let’s give you the keys and resources to understand sustainable procurement.
From our Smart Freight Procurement Guidelines to a comprehensive series on Integrating Sustainability into Your Logistics Procurement Process, we guide you through the process so you can move to Step 6 – extend your success to other lanes independently!
