Shippers launch “green” European road transport initiative
A group of 30 European shippers, carriers, retailers and manufacturers have launched a new voluntary sustainability initiative called Green Freight Europe. Their aim is to improve the environmental performance of road freight transport in Europe, providing a platform to help member companies reduce their emissions.
The programme will have a central database of calculated tailpipe emissions for the freight carriers involved, with shippers able to then compare the environmental performances of the different carriers, while helping logistics managers measure the carbon footprint of their own products.
Members will submit their emissions data annually, along with supporting data. The group said in future they will look to expand the emissions monitoring to include other emissions line NOx and particulates.
For the carriers involved, the group said the initiative will help them to attract more climate-conscious customers.
Green Freight Europe was inspired by the SmartWay Partnership run by the US Environmental Protection Agency since 2003, which now covers 30% of US road freight by volume. The European initiative is being managed by the European Shippers Council and was piloted since 2010 under the name SmartWay Europe.
One of its early priorities is to establish a certification system to verify the efforts of its members.
Current mail and express members include Austrian Post, Deutsche Post DHL, FedEx Express, Geodis, GeoPost, La Poste Group, PostNL, Swiss Post, TNT Express, trans-o-flex and UPS.
Visibility
Björn Hannappel, the group’s chair and also a senior expert within Deutsche Post DHL’s GoGreen sustainability programme, said the Green Freight Europe initiative was “striking a chord” with businesses and politicians who recognise that for the emissions performance of road transport to improve, there must be greater visibility in the system.
“The time is right for industry, shippers, carriers and logistics service providers to work together to provide the tools and means to do this,” said Hannappel.
“With Green Freight Europe we are able to provide the standard tools, methodology and pan-European carbon dioxide benchmarks of our industry. We can accelerate work already begun by our group to develop a programme of initiatives which will share the best technologies, technical developments and practices for reducing carbon dioxide emissions.
“And, we will be able to measure their effectiveness so that people know what they are getting, what can be achieved, and see how well they are achieving their targets,” added the Green Freight Europe chair.
Green Freight Europe, which hopes to attract more shippers, carriers and retailers to join their number, is also keen to work with other initiatives and programmes worldwide to further the emission-reduction goal.
The new initiative has already received an expression of support from EU Commissioner for Transport Siim Kallas as an excellent way for the road haulage industry to cut its emissions.
Andrew Traill, the European Shippers Council communications and business development director, who is heading up the Green Freight Europe secretariat, said: “We hope this sends out a strong signal to other companies and organisations to join us and get involved in the development work that is taking place.
“The EU’s emissions targets cannot be achieved without industry’s proactive support and engagement in such initiatives.”
