Logistics can accelerate demand for “fair and responsible business practices”, says DHL
DHL has issued a new study which looks at how business can “ensure profits grow hand in hand with sustainability”. The new report, entitled Fair and Responsible Logistics, developed by the DHL Trend Research team, analyses the key drivers of the fairness and responsibility transformation and the growing expectations of consumers to ‘go fair’.
The report describes 15 “potential use cases” to show how logistics companies can facilitate the circular economy and enable fair access, production and trade. DHL said that it plans to develop proofs of concept from these potential use cases to accelerate the drive towards fair and responsible logistics.
Commenting on the report, Dr. Markus Kückelhaus, Vice President Innovation and Trend Research, DHL Customer Solutions and Innovation, said: “We see a growing demand for fair and responsible business practices from all stakeholders, and we believe logistics can accelerate the adoption of this trend.
“Logistics is a network business with a global reach that can play a key role in helping businesses to ‘go fair’ and in improving transparency across the entire supply chain. By placing fair and responsible logistics at the core of our own business, new revenue streams can be generated, as well as new social and environmental value for all stakeholders.”
DHL then gave examples for the kind of initiatives the logistics industry could develop to be more fair and responsible. “Logistics providers,” said DHL “can establish recycling-friendly warehouses and trucks that provide the infrastructure for both logistics and recycling to increase recycling volumes and reduce waste. This use case envisages delivery trucks equipped with flexible interiors that adjust during delivery; the section for delivery reduces as parcels are offloaded and the collection area increases as recyclables are collected on the return journey.
“Fair and responsible packaging solutions can help to cope with burgeoning parcel volumes. These would utilize bio-degradable and other eco-friendly materials that can be composted in gardens after delivery. A second innovation is “logistics unverpackt”, a concept that completely eliminates the need for online delivery packaging; items would be delivered in reusable containers, achieving a zero-waste approach.
“A further example aims to propel fair production and trade. It proposes that logistics providers leverage their global reach and expertise to support companies in mapping out complex end-to-end supply chains. This information can then be used to establish transparency and to expose areas where there are risks and opportunities for fair and responsible business.”
Katharina Tomoff, Vice President Shared Value, Deutsche Post DHL Group, added: “With our GoGreen solutions we already meet the increasing demand for responsible logistics and create a shared value for our customers, our business and the environment. We are striving to expand related solutions such as reverse logistics for a Circular Economy.”
