Decarbonising Logistics
Reducing the Carbon Footprint of HGV Logistics
Reducing the Carbon Footprint of HGV Logistics
In the face of the climate emergency, consumers, shareholders and government are demanding increasingly urgent action. With HGV’s accounting for c.20% of the UK’s transport carbon emissions, the logistics sector has a key role to play and manufacturers and retailers must act now.
While technological advancements like hydrogen power and electric vehicles (EVs) hold immense promise, the solutions available in the near-term are currently of limited scale for hauliers. The sector must also grapple with the challenge of increasing congestion, with projections indicating a rise by 25% over the next 15 years, this will put additional strain on the timely distribution of products, a concern made even more pressing in the current low-inventory environment.
So, what can the sector do now to accelerate plans towards logistics decarbonisation?
Road haulage optimisation provides an immediate and sustainable decarbonisation tactic to reduce emissions and congestion, improve efficiencies and mitigate rising costs. In order to realise the savings potential of a fully optimised end to end network, collaboration is essential.
Optimising order patterns to reduce the number of vehicles on the road
Learn MoreBy reducing order frequency and increasing minimum order quantities (MOQs), there is opportunity to radically reduce emissions and cost, while working with existing transport, fuels, and infrastructure.
Optimising order patterns to reduce case pick (and increase layer and pallet pick) and deliver larger drop sizes, less often, will improve vehicle fill and take trucks off the road.
The Centre for Sustainable Road Freight predicts 34-50% of emissions can be cut out of existing fleets with only improved fleet utilisation.
Identifying consolidation opportunities, empty legs and reciprocal flows
Learn MoreFigures from the Department for Transport (DfT) have revealed one in three lorries on UK roads run empty and there are over three billion empty miles of travel by HGVs each year.
While retailers have built service offerings around back-haul, there remains significant opportunity for suppliers to identify consolidation opportunities, empty legs and reciprocal flows.
Our decarbonising logistics workgroups will share the latest developments in alternative fuels.
In the near term we will be sharing best practice for using HVO fuel, LNG and CNG. Focusing on longer term strategies, we will also share learnings into the development of Electric and Hydrogen HGVS and charging infrastructure.
Another critical lever to reduce road miles and emissions is a modal shift to rail. Rail is already the least emissions-intensive mode of transport, contributing just 1.4% of the UK's domestic transport emissions, with rail freight trains emitting c. 25% of the equivalent emissions of HGVs, per tonne.
In partnership with rail providers and leveraging their growing networks of rail-enabled terminals, there is significant opportunity to convert more movements to rail domestically. There is further opportunity to integrate short sea and cross-channel rail into the UK delivery network and reduce emissions even further.
Our Decarbonising Logistics workgroup will share knowledge, develop best practice and provide the opportunity to form collaborative partnerships, unlocking synergistic decarbonisation opportunities at scale. Our members will gain insight into the latest developments, opportunities and challenges on the road to decarbonisation.
We welcome action orientated suppliers, keen to make a difference.
The Decabonising Logistics workgroup is part of our wider offering of best practice workgroups, click here to discover more.