Transport's cleaner future: from vans powered by cooking oil to cargo ships with sails, companies are cutting both costs and carbon via green transport innovation. Ben Schiller explores best practice from around the world.
| Author | Schiller, Ben |
| Position | Economics |
Transport accounts for 15 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, and its impact has been growing. Between 1990 and 2007, its C02 output rose 45 per cent - mostly because of a big increase in road traffic. By 2030, it could rise another 40 per cent, according to the OECD.
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For companies looking to cut carbon and make financial savings, transport has rich potential. From shipments of materials and finished goods, to car fleets and door-to-door deliveries, the possibilities are endless.
And the good news is that not all of the best ways to reduce cost and carbon are painful. Experts say there are often simple things that companies can do, with benefits for the environment and the bottom line.
"You are finding that the same tools are being used not only for cost modelling, but also for carbon optimisation," says Ed Week, head of the QuSL logistics consultancy in Barcelona. "There are many situations where costs and carbon go together."
With fuel costs high and climate change on the agenda, many have been exploring new transport ideas - sometimes with quirky results.
Ten years ago, few would have predicted food giants running trucks on cooking oil, shippers putting sails on cargo vessels, or logistics firms delivering packages with all-electric vehicles. And yet such things are now normal. In the next few years, we might see a substantially different business transport system emerge.
Eliminating distance
Sustainable transport starts with reducing both the miles travelled and the miles travelled "empty", says Alan Braithwaite, chairman of LCP Consulting, a green logistics specialist.
"If you make sure you are running the maximum amount of miles with the maximum payload, and with the minimum empty running, these things can save vast sums of money, but also take a huge amount of carbon out of the supply chain."
Route-planning platforms, such as Paragon and Llamasoft, now include carbon calculation components. And Weenk says such software has led retailers and consumer goods companies to increase the number of warehouses as a way of decreasing the distances they need to travel.
Some are even thinking of bringing production closer to home. "Twenty years ago, everyone moved to Asia. Now, some are considering whether to come back. Nobody knows what is going to happen to oil prices. If they can have production closer, it will be cheaper, and there's a collateral benefit of being greener," Weenk says.
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