A paradigm shift to reduce transport emissions
Global freight transportation is currently responsible for 8% ofglobal carbon emissions, rising to 11% if emissions from logisticssites are included. If business continues as usual, emissions willdouble by 2050 because demand for freight shipping is expected togrow threefold in this period.
In 2018, only 0.2% of the US$269 million in voluntary carbonoffset investments went to transportation. The vast majority ofthese funds were invested in forestry, renewable energy, and otheroffsetting projects. These projects are certainly beneficial, butthey don’t reduce greenhouse gases emitted by the transport sectoritself, nor co-pollutants like black carbon, ozone, and nitrogenoxides.
What’s more, offsetting outside the sector reduces the incentiveto innovate and advance carbon-neutral freight and other greenlogistics solutions. It’s time for a paradigm shift – an innovativeapproach to drive higher investment into greener technologies andstrategies in the logistics industry. Carbon “insetting” offers apromising new pathway to decarbonize freight and minimize thetransportation carbon footprint.
Carbon insetting offers a vast reservoir of untapped potential.If done right and industry-wide, it could result in a significantshift towards greener logistics technologies that could sharplyreduce the size of the industry’s climate footprint.
Why do we know this? There are ample solutions out therejust waiting to be taken to the next level. Alternative sustainablefuels like hydrogen and biofuels are two examples as is electricitygenerated from renewable sources. To scale up the development anduse of these fuels will not only require new fleets of vehicles andvessels, but also new infrastructure for fuel production anddistribution. That’s going to take an enormous capital investmentthat no one country – let alone company – can manage alone.
Fleet renewal, engine retrofitting, and increased efficiency arefurther solutions that, when applied at scale, would lead tolong-term structural improvements up and down the logistics supplychain and sharply reduce the freight transportation industry’scarbon footprint.
