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The Acceleration to Zero Coalition: Is an ideal way for delivering a Paris-Aligned Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) Transition Globally

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Archives, Global Trade Daily, Technology

The Acceleration to Zero Coalition: Is an ideal way for delivering a Paris-Aligned Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) Transition Globally

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The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP27) recently announced the launch of the Accelerating to Zero (A2Z) Coalition, the next stage in gaining more ambitious goals to a zero-emission vehicle transition compatible with the Paris Agreement. More than 200 signatories from national as well as subnational governments, NGOs, vehicle manufacturers, fleet owners, enterprises, and others pledged to have all new car and van sales become zero emission by 2035 in major markets and so by 2040 globally. This commitment was made public on Solutions Day at COP27.

The A2Z Coalition aims to provide a forum for communication amongst the top zero-emission transportation groups worldwide to aid in the understanding, creation, and execution of ambitious zero-emission mobility policies and strategies. The organization wants to hasten the uptake of zero-emission cars by offering a public platform where signees may coordinate their initiatives and exchange resources with other participants.

Although there is a positive trend towards e-mobility in the road transport industry, this movement must promptly and sharply accelerate to reach the COP27 global climate targets. As a result, the A2Z Coalition represents a potent new strategy for building the momentum as well as implementation support required to make the transition to zero-emission mobility.

Various nations are hence urging the manufacturers to make immediate changes in their present systems of production, manufacturing, and operations of Electric Vehicles to make it a ‘carbon-free’ cycle. Additionally, nations have been focused on implementing new policies and investment plans to beef up the transition towards zero emissions and meet the A2Z goals. In this blog, we will discuss how various industries in the EU are urging for ZEV transitions for a better future, how Canada will push the usage of ZEVs in the coming years and how the maritime industry is also shifting towards ZEVs to reduce carbon emissions. 

Various Cross-Industry Coalitions in the EU urge for a Robust Policy

In order to hasten the shift to zero-emission as well as CO2-neutral mobility, the automotive, electrical, charging infrastructure, and energy generating industries have banded together to push the European Parliament and Council to enact robust, linked legislation. At a cross-industry roundtable in Brussels, the sectors—all major actors in the decarbonization of road transportation—launched their first-ever joint plea to policymakers.

According to this industry coalition, there is an urgent need for greater investment in infrastructure for various automobiles, trucks, vans, and buses powered with alternative energy.  Therefore, in order to achieve its goals, the EU will need to set higher benchmarks for both public and private infrastructure than any of those suggested by the Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Regulation (AFIR) as well as Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) recommendations from the European Commission.

To enable charging and hydrogen refueling stations financially feasible throughout the ramp-up stage of electric cars, public assistance, financial incentives, co-funding, and mandated objectives are required. According to the co-signatories, this is essential to ensuring that a basic infrastructure network is quickly made accessible throughout the EU. For a brief time, public involvement is required, particularly in places where its roll-out is slower.

Infrastructure development should coincide with the shift to zero-emission energy. In fact, making the shift to climate-neutral transportation and mobility will only make sense if done concurrently with the switch to zero-emission energy. The signatories contend that incentives should be provided to promote the use of zero-emission energy within the transportation industry. The aim is to expedite the regulatory processes in order to deploy the required renewable energy producing capacity.

Furthermore, the end user ought to not be neglected, with regulations that provide a customer-centric charging ecology that is reasonable and provides EU-wide roaming, without jeopardizing the contractual flexibility of this market’s operators.

Canada proposes a ZEV sales quota by 2026

The Canadian government has established enforceable sales targets for zero-emission vehicles in line with the objectives of the Zero Coalition. By 2026, a quarter of all brand-new passenger cars, pickup trucks, and SUVs sold in the nation must be zero-emission versions, including electric as well as hydrogen fuel cell automobiles.

They are pursuing a regulated sales goal that calls for at least 20 percent of all new vehicles sold by 2026 to have zero emissions, with that number rising to 60 percent by 2030, and then to 100 percent by 2035. The quotas are expected to result in Canadians saving close to CAD 34 billion in energy bills between 2026 and 2050. For three years, the emissions of greenhouse gasses reduction will be equal to all of Ontario’s emissions. Approximately 10% of Canada’s overall greenhouse emissions are now attributed to emissions from passenger vehicles. The Canadian Press reports that the Canadian Environmental Protection Act may impose penalties on importers and producers who don’t satisfy the quotas. Those credits will be used by the nation to monitor automobile sales.

Infrastructure upgrades and incentives should both contribute to a rise in EV adoption. There will be 85,000 public chargers built across the country by 2027 thanks to federal funding. Canada has traditionally provided incentives of up to $5,000 for private persons and up to $10,000 for company purchases of new zero-emission vehicles. Several manufacturers have committed to exclusively producing electric cars (EVs) and/or vehicles powered by hydrogen fuel cells. GM, as well as Honda, have set 2035 and 2040 as their targets, respectively, for completing the transition. By 2035, certain nations, including New York, California, and the UK, will no longer sell gas-powered cars.

The mandated sales objectives for zero-emission cars will cut emissions by encouraging more drivers to choose electric vehicles. At the moment, more than 50% of Canadians want an EV to be their next automobile, but there are huge waitlists and a limited supply that is going to provinces with established sales requirements like British Quebec and Columbia.  The federal laws will increase supply across all provinces and territories, reducing wait periods for electric and plug-in hybrid automobiles.

Getting to Zero Coalition initiative

Global trade is fueled by shipping, which is essential for the flow of products throughout the globe. Despite being one of the least polluting modes of transportation, the sector is responsible for 2-3% of the world’s emissions. By the year 2050, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) wants to cut shipping emissions by 50% compared to 2008 levels. The maritime sector must take the required actions to decrease its carbon footprint and scale up green production, transportation, and commerce as governments and industry actors work to meet ambitious climate goals.

The Getting to Zero Coalition is a forum that brings together roughly 200 stakeholders from the transportation and energy value chains. Following the announcement of a Call to Action in 2018 by a group of 34 important stakeholders committed to decarbonizing shipping, the Global Maritime Forum, the World Economic Forum, and Friends of Ocean Action established the Coalition in 2019.

By 2030, the Coalition hopes to commercialize low-emission ships traveling on deep-sea shipping routes, backed by the infrastructure required for scalable low-carbon energy sources, including those for generation, storage, distribution, and bunkering. The Coalition has increased its intention to completely decarbonize the industry by 2050, following science-based environmental targets, through a 2022 industry-led Call to Action for Shipping Decarbonization and a recent statement at the Getting to Zero Coalition 2022 Working Group Session. Key goals for 2022–2023 include:

  • Catalyze industrial activity, including the creation of deep-sea green corridors with the help of Getting to Zero member firms, as well as the creation of projects that connect demand and supply.

 

  • Increase the pace of policy making at the IMO and watch as a revised GHG strategy is adopted with a zero-emission objective for 2050 along with the consensus on the steps required to guarantee a fair and equitable sector transformation.

 

Conclusion

With the degrading climatic conditions and their adverse effects, various nations globally are moving towards reducing overall emissions and gaining an alternative power transition at the earliest. This is what has propelled the emergence of COP27. The execution of the Paris Agreement is the primary focus of COP27, and there are high hopes for COP26’s results in terms of the completion of the Paris Rulebook, especially concerning the global carbon market. India has committed to reach net-zero emissions by 2070 and to cut its carbon intensity by 45% by 2030 when compared to 2005 at the COP26 meeting.

India would need USD 160 billion annually to reach the 2030 clean energy objectives, according to projections from the International Energy Agency, while no other country’s energy consumption will rise as much as India’s in the future years. The advantages of advancing zero-emission transportation were stressed at the COP26 summit. Over 100 parties who endorsed the transition signed the Glasgow Declaration on Zero-Emission Cars and Vans (ZEVs). The COP26 statement on the quick transition to 100% ZEVs was also signed by India, which was represented by the NITI Aayog initiative. 

To advance low-carbon infrastructures, the NITI Aayog initiative has been collaborating with the UK government on several projects, including charging infrastructure, e-vehicles, and battery storage. India is the fifth-largest as well as fastest-growing automotive market in the world, offering tremendous opportunities for the adoption of electric vehicles. The transition to ZEVs is well underway, bringing down technological prices and lowering our dependency on foreign fuels. However, as public transportation is the most accessible and necessary form of transportation in India, it might have been wise to first concentrate on lowering its carbon footprint in addition to that of automobiles and vans.

Hence, such a transition requires more investment in the country. The main focus of COP27 would be climate finance and particularly how it ought to be distributed, given the amount of money needed and the difficulty in raising money. India has also requested that the USD 100 billion-a-year guarantee of climate assistance for developing nations be reconsidered, even though the deadline has passed. Since the bulk of CO2 emissions is produced in the US and the European region, wealthier nations would be expected to support climate spending and ensure a seamless transition to ZEVs.

Author Bio

Aditi is the Marketing Head at Future Market Insights (FMI), ESOMAR-certified market research and consulting Market Research Company. The award-winning firm is headquartered in Dubai, with offices in the US, UK, and India. The award-winning firm is headquartered in Dubai, with offices in the US, UK, and India. MarketNgage is the Market Research Subscription Platform from FMI that assists stakeholders in obtaining in-depth research across industries, markets, and niche segments. You can connect with Aditi on LinkedIn.

 

ESG
Archives, Global Logistics, Global Trade Daily, Trucking

Driving America’s Businesses Forward with Proactive ESG Strategies at the Forefront

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Entering the new millennium, few companies across all industries had a watchful eye toward environmental stewardship, particularly throughout the heavy-duty truck transportation industries. However, just a few short years later, governments in many countries began to better understand the benefits that could come from corporations curbing their carbon emissions output, and new greenhouse gas mandates began to take effect by the early 2000s.

Pioneering Insight for Industry Sustainability

In the early 2000s, the use of data analytics began to help fleet customers run their operations more efficiently. Fleet Advantage CEO, John Flynn, had a family relative who was receiving treatment for cancer caused by environmental pollutants, and Flynn realized the importance of leveraging resources to help companies with transportation fleets not only comply with the new environmental regulations but serve as model corporations regarding environmental stewardship.

Flynn understood the importance of being the future of truck leasing by advocating solutions that would significantly reduce emissions over time. By 2011, leading fleet consultants had begun to make strong recommendations against the use of older-model equipment because of toxic emissions. They introduced never-seen-before emissions scorecards, and an innovative replacement program with financial flexibility in mind that made it beneficial to operate newer, clean-diesel engines. These programs also helped fleets meet new GHG-1 Federal mandate standards and calculated fuel economy gains at 2.5% MPG and CO2 reductions.

A Focus on Environmental Stewardship

Between 2016 and 2021, leading industry players continued their mission to help fleets change the way they see the environment, as well as their impact. Advanced asset management strategies helped companies reach environmental, social and governance (ESG) goals while promoting sustainability through shortening asset life cycles, optimizing vehicle specifications to be more fuel-efficient, and to align with the duty cycle as well as geographical locale. New approaches also specified lighter components that allow for longer maintenance intervals which reduce environmental hazmat waste disposal.

Today, with Flynn’s foresight, companies are boasting vastly improved environmental records while implementing ESG strategies in front of customers, regulators, and other critical stakeholders. As an example, Fleet Advantage has saved customers approximately $250 million and approximately 175,000 metric tons in emissions since inception.

Socially Conscious Organizations

In addition to environmental stewardship, social criteria are also within companies’ ESG strategies. It’s important that organizations are operating the newest and safest trucks that keep all motorists safe and help attract and retain a greater pool of diverse drivers and other staff. Fleet specification experts work with each company to design new trucks for maximum safety, fuel efficiency, lowest maintenance cost, and highest resale values through innovative programs that focus on upgrading to newer trucks with advanced safety features. By focusing on safety proactively, fleets are recognizing risks that they may otherwise not likely identify, as well as a solution that could save millions of dollars in cost reduction while avoiding damage to their corporate image and brand identity.

Socially responsible organizations today also recognize that a more diverse approach to the transportation industry unlocks more potential growth for organizations through the advancement and empowerment of a gender-diverse workforce.

Governance & Corporate Leadership

Governance is an area many companies have struggled with in recent history. This pertains to the governance factors of decision-making, from sovereigns’ policymaking to the distribution of rights and responsibilities among different participants in corporations, including the board of directors, managers, shareholders and stakeholders. Governance factors highlight the processes for organizations. Fleet experts today provide analytics, processes, and transparency so that clients can meet legal requirements and satisfy every stakeholder in the process.

Today and Looking Ahead

Today, Flynn is proud of the leadership his company displays in life cycle asset management, data analytics and overall strategies to help clients lead competitive and agile organizations through better decision-making. Leading companies today are proud of the culture they have created internally, and many are strong examples of how diversity and inclusion in the workplace can have a substantially positive impact on their organization, employees, customers, and the surrounding communities. They believe that the long-term success of any business calls for a diverse body of talent that can bring fresh ideas, perspectives, and viewpoints into the workplace. Fleet experts now strive to create a culture of diverse individuals from all races, ages, genders, education levels, and cultural backgrounds.

Ultimately, leading executives like Flynn and his company have a goal to help the industry become as sustainable, socially conscious, and governed with as much integrity as possible. Every effort these leading companies put forth is to benefit all – the environment, clients, stakeholders and local communities.

___________________________________________________________________

About The Author: Katerina Jones is Vice President, Marketing and Business Development at Fleet Advantage, a leading innovator in truck fleet business analytics, equipment financing and lifecycle cost management. For more information visit www.FleetAdvantage.com.

trucking insurance
Archives, Global Logistics, Global Trade Daily, Trucking

How Can We Make Trucking More Sustainable?

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Transportation accounts for around one-fifth of global carbon emissions, with road freight being one of the largest contributors.

As a result — and as sustainability becomes more important to businesses, investors and consumers — trucking companies are looking for ways to make their work greener. New strategies and technology are helping the industry improve its sustainability and reduce its carbon footprint.

Utilizing these strategies could help make a trucking industry that’s more sustainable and just as capable of moving goods around the country. Here are some tactics that are helping companies to go green.

New Technology Paves the Way for Green Trucking

A handful of innovations may help the trucking industry tackle its most significant sources of carbon — primarily, emissions generated by trucks burning fossil fuels.

The most significant new technology will likely be the electric vehicles (EVs) and alternative fuel vehicles (AFVs) arriving on the market. These trucks are powered by nondiesel energy sources — like hydrogen, biodiesel, renewable natural gas or pure electricity.

Depending on their particular fuel source, they can produce reduced carbon emissions compared to diesel, or none at all. This allows trucking companies to significantly reduce their largest source of greenhouse gas emissions.

Limitations of these EVs and AFVs — like a lack of national electric vehicle charging and infrastructure — made them a risky investment in the past. However, as charging stations become common and manufacturers release electric trucks with ranges comparable to diesel ones, companies are beginning to reconsider these vehicles. The growing AFV and EV market segment also means businesses have more options than ever when it comes to nondiesel trucks.

Some AFVs, like those powered by biodiesel and renewable natural gas, aren’t emissions-free but are a more sustainable option than conventional trucks. For example, biodiesel is a renewable resource produced from feedstock that absorbs carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as it grows. Burning it isn’t completely green, but making it can help to actively sequester atmospheric carbon.

Adopting either AFVs or EVs will take a major investment from the industry, and there are still risks to pivoting away from conventional fuel-powered trucks. However, these AFVs are likely the best way for a trucking business to reduce its individual carbon footprint.

Other significant innovations come from the IT world. New monitoring and driver management software provides businesses with data management and gathering tools that were never available before. Telematics and GPS technology can help companies monitor their fleets and driver behavior, allowing them to identify unsustainable driving habits and route choices.

These GPS devices could be combined with other monitoring technologies, like Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) sensors that gather truck health and performance information. They are already being used in the intermodal transportation industry to improve business efficiency.

This technology could make tracking driver behavior and vehicle health much easier.

Best Practices Could Reduce the Trucking Industry’s Carbon Footprint

Businesses may not need to adopt entirely new technology to improve their carbon footprint. Instead, new business services, models and best practices may help the trucking industry cut back on carbon emissions while using existing trucks.

Full truckloads (FTLs) are a strategy that aims to minimize empty miles and underutilized truck storage space. This allows businesses to make trucking a much more sustainable shipping approach.

In some cases, trucking companies may be able to maximize their FTL count by outsourcing logistics operations to the right partner. Business-to-business freight shipping company FlockFreight has launched a new service that combines multiple less-than-truckloads (LTLs) to maximize goods shipped while reducing carbon emissions.

In 2017, empty miles accounted for around 17% of all greenhouse gas emissions from the trucking industry. Cutting down on these miles while maximizing full truckloads could help improve the industry’s productivity and minimize carbon emissions at the same time. All it takes is partnering with a sustainable logistics company.

The Right Maintenance Approach Can Minimize Carbon Emissions

Even simple changes to a business’s maintenance strategy can significantly reduce carbon emissions. For example, tire rolling resistance is considered to be one of the main factors impacting a vehicle’s fuel efficiency, along with the engine and aerodynamics.

A company’s choice of tire and maintenance practices that keep tires inflated can help significantly reduce the amount of fuel a vehicle needs. Lower consumption can reduce operational costs and carbon emissions.

Other effective maintenance practices can also help minimize fuel consumption and risks like downtime. Oil changes and other repairs that keep engines as efficient as possible can improve fuel economy and keep carbon emissions low.

Businesses are also beginning to invest in new telematics strategies that provide them with additional maintenance data. Remote monitoring solutions with IoT devices give companies a real-time snapshot of their entire truck fleet’s health.

Virtual dashboards can collect and display data like fleet-wide tire pressure, maintenance needs and fuel consumption, allowing managers to pinpoint potential problems.

Over time, these monitoring solutions can also lay the foundation for predictive maintenance strategies. They use a combination of real-time maintenance data from telematics systems and artificial intelligence to predict when a truck will need work. These algorithms can often significantly improve vehicle performance, increase life span and reduce the risk of unexpected downtime.

These benefits can help companies reduce operating costs while minimizing their carbon footprint.

New Technology Can Create a Sustainable Trucking Industry

The trucking industry has long struggled with carbon emissions and pollution. Trucks that burn fossil fuels, like diesel, naturally produce a large amount of greenhouse gas. This takes a huge toll on the environment. Trucking companies would be wise to adopt sustainable practices as more consumers and corporations look to green practices.

New technology and best practices can enable the sector to become more sustainable. Combined with new monitoring or maintenance platforms, AFVs and EVs may allow a business to almost eliminate its carbon footprint. Even simple changes to business processes that help maximize the number of FTLs can have a major impact on emissions. Employing these tactics paves the way for a more sustainable trucking industry.

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Emily Newton is an industrial journalist. As Editor-in-Chief of Revolutionized, she regularly covers how technology is changing the industry.

ocean freight
Archives, Global Logistics, Global Trade Daily, Ocean Carriers

KEELVAR SAYS ITS OCEAN AND AIR FREIGHT AI WILL REVOLUTIONIZE PROCUREMENT

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Bots are everywhere these days. They play poker against you and help you order a pizza. They assist in getting you hotel reservations and chat with you when you contact customer service to find out why your pizza had extra onions instead of extra cheese. And now, thanks to Cork, Ireland-based Keelvar, they can all but take over a company’s ocean and air freight procurement.

There’s no question air cargo really needs help right now, given the volatility in the market. Capacity is down, way down—nearly 40 percent from China in mid-February, 20 percent over the last year as a whole. Ocean capacity has also dropped. Meanwhile, demand has been rising, due to the pandemic. Optimizing sourcing at a time when rates, transit times and carriers are changing so rapidly is challenging for even the largest firms. 

For Keelvar, there are few better times to unleash their bots.

“We’ve been helping shippers to find ways to bring the product to market faster,” says Keelvar CEO Alan Holland. “It’s automated—that’s what’s different about what we’re doing. A bot can go to work as soon as someone wants to move something, say, from Montevideo to New York. It’s always available. That’s the biggest competitive advantage.”

The bots that Keelvar and many other companies make these days are simply software that automates specialized tasks. Keelvar calls the artificial intelligence (AI) bots it makes Sourcing Automation, which it defined in a June 2018 white paper as “a new category of software that leverages intelligent systems to automate complex human reasoning that exceeds expert standards.” 

Holland likens his bots to those that entered the world of online poker a few years ago. The earliest poker bots could play the game well, but couldn’t best professional players. But as the software evolved, the AI learned how to play better. Today, even the best poker champions in the world can’t beat the latest generation of poker bots. Holland’s goal, which he articulated in the white paper, is creating software that performs sourcing work for companies better than the experts in the field.

“The sobering fact is that AI is defeating the best human experts in most tasks where the boundaries and constraints on decision making are well-defined closed systems,” states the Keelvar white paper. “It would be a mistake to assume that AI won’t be competitive in the task of strategic sourcing and then ultimately overtake humans in this role. Once the boundaries of decision making are communicated, then the game-theoretic reasoning for optimizing the mechanism for sourcing goods and services becomes just another complex but the tractable calculation for Artificial Intelligence.”

In other words, Keelvar says their bots can automate all bidder communications in sourcing: opening, feedback generation, data cleansing, closing, termination-criteria monitoring, and activation. They basically run a company’s sourcing events, though logistics officials are always free to override the bot’s preferred course of action. Sourcing events can be complex and require the labor of many employees, some with years or decades in the procurement field, but Keelvar’s sourcing automation can basically handle it all.

“This process is tedious to execute manually and the more bidders there are, the more onerous the tasks above become and also the more likely that short-cuts are taken, and mistakes are made,” states Keelvar’s white paper. “Furthermore, the slow pace in manual events leads to curtailment of the rounds of bidding and inevitable lost savings opportunities due to the frictional effect of manual operations.”

What’s more, Keelvar’s ocean freight bots can even account for the pollution emissions of cargo vessels when conducting sourcing events (a feature that will eventually be available on the company’s air cargo bots). “Humans can’t get to that level of detail to do emission-sustainable options,” Holland said.

While the ocean freight bot has been around a year or so, the air freight bot only became available in January. Keelvar says the bot can automate 90 percent of a company’s tactical sourcing processes.

“It’s a natural evolution from our first bot, the ocean freight bot,” Holland said. “There’s a finite set of airport codes, but different logic around recommendations in air freight. Bid sheets are different, and cargo tends to be weight-based, rather than container-based, which is how ocean freight works.”

For Felix Plapperer, a venture capital investor and CEO of Paua Ventures, Keelvar’s sourcing bots will “dominate” the procurement market. Not merely because the bots are inherently more efficient than manual labor, but also because they learn the sourcing job better every time they operate. 

“When a tender/auction is conducted by a bot, the number of actions is between eight and 20, depending on the complexity,” Plapperer wrote in a June 4, 2020, post on Medium on why he invested in Keelvar. “If each bot action costs less than $1, then the cost per event is roughly one or two orders of magnitude (yes, that is 10x to 100x times) cheaper than for an event operated by manual labor. Now, these cost savings only capture the value driven by process automation. As ‘mini-tenders’ are not run by sourcing experts, little to no optimization takes place (in fact, often personal relationships drive the outcome). Sourcing bots, in contrast, analytically optimize each and every event based on business priorities. Thus, they create additional value in reduced spend—every time they are at work.”

Of course, the bots aren’t replacements for a company’s procurement teams, but were designed to work alongside them. Major companies such as BMW, Novartis, Siemens and Coca Cola are already using Keelvar’s bots for their procurement.

Another of Keelvar’s recent customers, McKesson Corp., is an Irving, Texas-based healthcare and pharmaceutical company founded back in 1883. According to Keelvar’s marketing materials, McKesson was on track to save 6 percent of its global freight budget prior to the pandemic, and had already saved 6 percent the year prior, through the use of sourcing optimization products from Keelvar.

“Excel is nice, but it’s not where we need to be,” said Tad Strong, McKesson’s Vice President of Global Operations during a March 2021 webinar hosted by Procurement Leaders. “And over the next few years, we’ve some pretty big plans on making that shift into a more automated, more robust system.” 

So, what does the future hold? Holland wouldn’t comment on whether his company is developing a bot to handle ground freight logistics (though that would be a logical step for the company), but he did say the next generation of artificial intelligence bots are just on the horizon.

“This is all level four automation, but level five automation systems in the future will have more autonomy,” said Holland. “We want the bot to autonomously decide on new carriers. There’s a lot of strategy on negotiating rates. You learn by experience which strategies are best. In level five, the bot learns new strategies.”

Holland said the first of examples of his level five AI bots in ocean freight should appear in the fourth quarter of this year. 

sustainability
3pls, Archives, Global Logistics

An Efficient Supply Chain is by Nature a More Sustainable One

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It’s C.H. Robinson’s mission to improve the world’s supply chains. We’ve been doing it for decades now. But in a world ever more conscious of the imperative to reduce carbon emissions, helping customers move their freight more efficiently has taken on new urgency.

Our customers are tackling their carbon footprint from all angles, from their facilities to the source of their electricity. They’re turning to us for help with an even more challenging sustainability goal: reducing greenhouse gases across their supply chains. With nearly 200,000 customers and contract carriers worldwide, we stand to make a significant impact on sustainability across the industry.

New technology and data we’ve launched are proving to be an accelerator of change. Now that companies can get an instant calculation of all their transportation emissions, a huge barrier is removed and the possibilities for reduction are revealed. We helped one of the largest outdoor retailers reduce their carbon output through mode conversion and purchase order aggregation, which eliminated 1,270 metric tons of emissions from their supply chain in one year – the equivalent of 3,000 barrels of oil.

Load and mode optimization, consolidation, and eliminating empty miles are some of the ways we make supply chains more efficient. As Chief Human Resources and E.S.G. Officer for C.H. Robinson, I’m proud to say that those services are also some of our most effective sustainability solutions.

For example, because C.H. Robinson’s technology is built by and for supply chain experts, we can uncover that a customer’s weekly freight from Los Angeles to Chicago is consistently seven different less-than-truckload (LTL) shipments from seven different vendors. To help the customer save money, reduce waste and achieve their sustainability goals, we can consolidate that onto one truck. That’s six cross-country shipments and a lot of emissions eliminated. More efficient. More sustainable.

Our global suite of services also provides more options. For example, if that customer has bigger shipments that are less time-sensitive, one option would be switching from trucks to rail. On average, a ton of freight can move 470 miles by rail on a single gallon of gas. More efficient. More sustainable.

Just think about the carbon reduction that’s possible in a major national retailer’s supply chain. Let’s say the retailer has hundreds of shipments going from Amsterdam to Barcelona every week, with trucks driving back empty to pick up their next load. Those are wasted miles.

Because of our global scope and scale, our supply chain experts can optimize that, too. While even the largest of retailers only has visibility into their own freight, C.H. Robinson has visibility into 19 million shipments annually. It’s an enormous information advantage for our customers. Across our vast network of contract carriers, we can identify hundreds of trucks on similar schedules going from Barcelona to Amsterdam. Pairing up that freight can eliminate those empty miles and the associated carbon emissions. More efficient. More sustainable.

In my E.S.G. role at C.H. Robinson, I have the privilege of seeing how our expertise in solving the most complex supply chain problems is creating a more sustainable future for our customers, our industry and our planet. Let us help you achieve your sustainability goals.

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Angie Freeman is the Chief Human Resources & ESG Officer at C.H. Robinson

carbon capture
Archives, Global Logistics, Global Trade Daily, Trucking

Four Ways Carbon Capture Will Be A Game-Changer for Climate Change

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Climate change is real, and carbon plays a significant role. According to the EPA, about 65 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions are carbon dioxide from fossil fuels and other industrial processes. This doesn’t even include other sources of carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gas emissions such as methane and nitrous oxide.

Carbon and other greenhouse gasses retain radiant heat from the sun, which causes an insulating effect that raises the atmospheric temperature. This overall temperature increase, also referred to as global warming, has been shown to be a direct cause of numerous negative climate events including the melting of polar ice caps, rising ocean levels, devastating and in some cases irreparable damage to ocean coral reefs, as well as unstable and harsh weather and storm patterns that cause catastrophic damage and loss of life. The use of technology such as carbon capture could be part of a global solution to the world’s carbon emission problem.

What is carbon capture?

Simply put, carbon capture is a means of collecting carbon from exhaust flues when it is produced as a biproduct of fossil fuel combustion (primarily CO and CO2). This carbon is released into the air from sources such as powerplants, manufacturing plants, or various modes of transportation that use carbon-based fuels including coal, natural gas, biomass, oil, and other fuel sources. The idea is to collect the carbon before it is released into the environment, thereby reducing its environmental impact.

Four ways in which carbon capture will be a game-changer

By reducing carbon emissions released into the atmosphere from industrial sources, we can make a significant impact on climate change. Carbon capture has encouraging potential and could radically alter the energy landscape because:

1. It allows the continued use of highly energy-dense and efficient carbon-based fuels (coal, natural gas and oil) without contributing additional carbon gasses to the atmosphere.

2. When applied to biomass-fueled combustion power plants, carbon capture has the potential to result in negative carbon emissions. Since the biomass sources—in the form of forest and agricultural waste—absorb and store carbon dioxide as part of natural lifecycles, capturing and sequestering the carbon dioxide after it is released effectively removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

3. It sustains healthy global economic growth through abundant and affordable energy.

4. It retains billions of dollars in sunk costs in existing carbon-based generation infrastructure by sequestering carbon emissions.

What are the challenges of implementing carbon capture technology?

While carbon capture is incredibly promising, it does come with its own challenges. To date, the technologies that have shown potential have not been demonstrated at scale. By and large, they have only been verified in test environments. More tests in real-life carbon capture situations need to take place to prove that it is truly a viable option. Additionally, the economic tipping point has not been reached to allow carbon capture to compete with traditional thermal, nuclear, or renewable generation due to the intensive capital cost of installation.

Additional innovation and investment would need to take place to develop more cost-effective options, thereby reducing the cost and incentivizing manufacturing and transportation providers to install carbon capture systems. Finally, there exists a reputational barrier as carbon-based fuel combustion has become a target of environmental activists, who may not be receptive to the idea of “clean carbon” or “carbon neutral” initiatives. If we can both scale carbon capture and make it affordable, we can then show positive results that prove the system works. This scientific data is needed to help change the minds of environmental activists and politicians who are making environmental protection laws, to help them see substantial evidence that this type of technology will reduce carbon in the atmosphere.

The future of carbon capture

As carbon capture technology matures and closes scalability and commercial hurdles, it could result in a significant resurgence in carbon-based power generation. This will require time and money to navigate any barriers to entry both technically and politically. The bottom line is that carbon capture is incredibly promising, and as innovators in this area can show that it is good for the environment as well as for industry, it will be more likely to be adopted and supported.

As the goal of carbon reduction remains at the forefront of global concerns, IHI Power Services Corp is deeply interested in the potential advantages of carbon capture. Environmental stewardship and support services are part of its values and it is looking to new and innovative ways to protect the environment while supporting the power industry.

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Dan Consie has 30 years of experience in the power generation industry with skills in business and contract management, engineering, operation and maintenance, and rotating equipment vibration diagnostics and balancing. Consie has held plant engineer, plant manager and asset manager positions and is currently serving as vice president of strategic initiatives at IHI Power Services Corp. (IPSC).