This month’s Climate Collaborative webinar welcomed BSR’s Nico De Golia for a dive into how companies can work to decarbonize their transportation supply chains. We wanted to share some of his takeaways below. To learn more visit here.

You can watch the recording here. 

Why is it important to look at reducing your transportation footprint? As Nico’s presentation showed, 15% of global energy demand is occupied by freight, and this demand is expected to more than quadruple by 2050.

What are the causes? Heavy-duty trucks are the fastest contributor to emissions.

Road freight is responsible for 2/3 of absolute carbon dioxide emissions. Air freight is the highest intensity of emissions, and sea freight moves the most freight by distance. Rail and inland waterways are low-carbon solutions, though these modes are lagging in the U.S. relative to the rest of the world.

What can you do? Firstly, don’t try to act alone. Collaboration is key: it’s almost impossible for any one company to do it alone, especially given that right now the competition is on price rather than sustainability. Collaboration is what makes these efforts feasible.

Five ways to reduce transportation emissions in your supply chain:

1. Set targets
2. Report emissions
3. Implement solutions
4. Collaborate and advocate
5. Engage on policy

Resources:

• Clean Cargo Working Group
• Future of Fuels - Case Studies Library
• The Smart Freight Center
• US EPA SmartWay
• EDF Green Freight Handbook
• The GLEC Framework