Environmental sustainability is seen as a significant or very significant business opportunity by 24% of carriers in the road freight sector, according to a new report from Transporeon.
This percentage has decreased, however, from 27% in 2022, due to future uncertainty and economic instability, it noted.
The report, titled The 2024 Green Freight Report: Is Transportation on Track?, highlights modal shift (21.8%) as the top choice for driving freight decarbonisation in 2023, followed by load and routing optimisation (18.2%) and carrier optimisation (13.8%).
Shippers are increasingly seeking multimodal solutions and carbon-efficient operations, but achieving these goals requires access to primary data provided by carriers.
Regulation a key driver
The report also highlights that regulation remains the primary driver of freight decarbonisation, especially among carriers, followed by various monetary incentives.
Carriers express a preference for customers offering premiums or longer contracts, as well as government subsidies and tax incentives, to encourage decarbonisation efforts. Quick wins such as fuel reduction measures and transportation management platforms supporting CO2 measurement and reduction can lead to immediate cost savings.
However, implementing regulation and changing customer behavior typically require longer lead times.
Despite these opportunities, many respondents lack a cohesive decarbonisation strategy and struggle with accurately measuring emissions, the report found.
In 2023, 59% of carriers surveyed reported being able to calculate their transport-related CO2 emissions, up from 55% in 2022. More than half of carriers reported using either a Transportation Management System (TMS) application or a third-party calculation tool for this purpose.
Despite recognising the benefits of decarbonisation for their business, however, the majority of shipper respondents are unaware of whether their company has a freight decarbonisation strategy in place (56.91%). Only 16% were certain that their company had implemented targets and/or a strategy,
Data sharing
Data sharing is another area of concern, the findings revealed.
Nearly half (46.8%) of carrier respondents express reluctance to share their primary data for calculating CO2 emissions, indicating a low level of collaboration for decarbonising freight.
This lack of willingness to share data, coupled with over half (53%) of responding shippers reporting minimal engagement with carriers on decarbonisation efforts, suggests a broader issue of trust and collaboration between parties in the sector.
Moreover, only 3% of respondents prioritise industry-wide collaboration among shippers, further underscoring the limited collaborative efforts within the sector.
This lack of collaboration extends in both directions, as most shippers (53%) do not actively engage carriers in decarbonisation efforts, and 70% of carrier respondents note a decrease in shippers requesting CO2 emission data in 2023 compared to 2022, indicating a concerning downward trend.
Collaboration ‘too complex’
“This survey reveals that most stakeholders within the supply chain find collaboration too complex,” commented Serge Schamschula, head of ecosystem at Transporeon. “In order to enhance efficiencies, all parties can look for seamless collaboration by adopting a network approach. In addition, decarbonisation requires teamwork.
“To ensure robust emissions calculations and trust in the data, collaboration within the freight decarbonisation ecosystem can be significantly facilitated by a smart platform in the future.”
The report was conducted in collaboration with Trimble, KLU Kuehne Logistics University, and Smart Freight Centre. It was based on findings from a global survey with over 700 respondents, including 181 shippers and 527 carriers from Europe and North America.
The full report can be found here.
To learn more about how to improve sustainability in your business, make sure you read www.sustainabilityonline.net.
