Key Issues

The transport industry's carbon footprint

Do you want to be in the driving seat on transport greenhouse emissions?

Every month that passes brings further worrying research highlighting the accelerating impacts of global warming, from retreating polar ice sheets to profound changes in ocean lifecycles. It isn’t easy to see how a career in logistics and transport could do anything but make the problem worse.

Adverts portray vehicles as environmentally damaging, and it’s tempting to think ‘the best truck is no truck’. Is this true? What is the industry really doing?

Engagement in reducing emissions by the transport industry really matters, as transport is a substantial and growing source of greenhouse gases. Road transport produces about 22% of annual UK carbon dioxide emissions, which are higher than for either the business or residential sectors. Since 1990, emissions from road transport have increased by 10%, while those from the energy supply and business sectors have reduced by -9% and -16% respectively.

This is because increased vehicle miles, driven by economic growth have offset the improvements in load carrying efficiency as shown in the graph below.

But there are many misconceptions about transport, for example, the latest generation of trucks can be 100 times cleaner than they were 20 years ago. Lars Mĺrtensson, Volvo’s Environmental Affairs Officer recently stated that ‘Compared with a regular passenger car, a 40-tonne Volvo truck consumes just five times as much fuel, even though it transports 20 times as much weight.’ So your car may be relatively more polluting in transporting you, than a truck transporting goods!

The industry is increasingly recognising the importance of the issue. Many companies in the sector are really active in undertaking emission reduction initiatives. In making these changes, industry skills are a critical resource, requiring the expertise to help formulate the right plans, and make them work. While technology improvements depend largely on research, manufacturing and government, the organisation and operation of transport is very much in the hands of the industry itself, and in key individual leaders.



What is the transport industry doing today?

Businesses at the cutting edge of reducing emissions from transport are completely re-engineering themselves. A good example is the Marks and Spencer ‘A-Plan’, where the company has reduced its vehicle mileage by 14% as part of a radical change programme. M&S tested ‘Tear Drop’ trucks and trailers – an enhanced aerodynamic shaped truck which streamlines airflow and so reduces CO2 emissions, and saved 20% of transport emissions.

In a recent initiative on sharing transport in the food sector, ASDA, Coca-Cola and Nestlé, among others, announced that they had joined forces to reduce carbon emissions and cut costs. According to the Institute of Grocery Distribution (IGD), after successful pilots, the programme will be rolled out across some 37 companies, and could potentially save 48 million vehicle miles and 23 million litres of diesel per year. This ‘can do’ attitude is typified by this statement from Nestlé, one of the participants. ‘We are determined as an industry to reduce our impact on the environment,’ Alastair Sykes, Nestlé UK chief executive and president of IGD, explained. ‘At a time when we are dealing with the highest fuel costs in Europe, it is particularly apposite.’


Other examples of the industry at work

Tesco runs a fleet of 2,000 HGVs delivering to 1,800 stores across the UK. In 2006, Tesco set itself the challenge of reducing CO2 emissions in its distribution network by 10% during 2007, and targeted a 50% reduction by 2011. Tesco reduced the carbon footprint of its transport activities by better utilising existing assets, adopting alternatives to road transport (where CO2 levels were reduced by 2,750 tonnes per year), by making the move to multi-modal transport and by reducing its road miles by over five million miles (saving over 7,400 tonnes of CO2).

`The company also reduced emissions through the use of new trucks and trailers and by using alternative fuels and technology. Overall it reduced its carbon footprint by 10.2% in 2007.

Boots benefited from collaboration and optimising vehicle loads. They saved 75,000 miles/year and 92 tonnes of CO2 by sharing distribution with Imperial Tobacco to accommodate increased demand for high cube loads.

The London Consolidation Centre has been set up with Freight Best Practice to reduce the number and distance of construction vehicles travelling to building sites in central and inner London. It is a partnership between Bovis, Stanhope Plc, Transport for London and Wilson James Ltd. In 18 months the centre has reduced its CO2 emissions by 73%.

Energy Savings Trust and The Commercial Group (Suppliers of BskyB) have developed a dynamic mapping system for van fleets, which has resulted in the van fleet driving 80,000 fewer miles.

The Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT) is setting up a multi-stakeholder initiative to bring together industry, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), academics and politicians to help create a more coherent intermediate strategy and plan for freight. The CILT has recently introduced a tool which helps companies measure their individual carbon footprint with a view to reducing their CO2 emissions.


What are the opportunities in the industry, and what is working in it like?

Compared with high media profile industries, the logistics and transport industry has a low profile, and can suffer from a perception that the work is ‘all to do with trucks and sheds’ and pretty boring, that pay is low and career prospects are poor. The reality is that senior executives can enjoy six figure salaries, and their work involves as sophisticated technology and techniques as any other industry (in fact more complex than many).

Working conditions in mainstream businesses are excellent, with strong opportunities for progression to board level management, to move cross functionally in the business or enter management consulting. The industry is as international as banking, with most senior executives having the opportunity to travel the globe. The requirement for intelligent, motivated people to help solve global issues like CO2 emissions has never been greater in the industry, nor the opportunity to contribute more open to new people and ideas.

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