As a growing business imperative according to New 'Green Transportation & Logistics Global Report'
eyefortransport recently surveyed over 500 supply chain executives worldwide to establish what was driving companies to green their transportation and logistics. The resulting 'Green Transportation & Logistics Global Report' revealed that financial and public relations ROI means that green issues are fast becoming the No.1 priority for companies of all sizes.
With up to 75% of a company's carbon footprint coming from transportation and logistics, the focus of supply chain greening is beginning to shift towards this area, where the opportunity to make the biggest difference exists. With this in mind, eyefortransport asked respondents to pinpoint what they were doing to green their transportation and logistics, and what effects these initiatives have had.
The timely industry report that resulted revealed that only 6% of respondents designate green issues as likely to remain at the same level of importance as now. The vast majority of respondents, 85%, divulged that over the next three years green issues will become more important to their transport and logistics processes. An amazing 13% of those identified green issues as their No.1 priority over the next three years, while less than 1% expects a lessening of importance.
How do they plan to green their transportation and logistics? Katharine O'Reilly, Director of Environmental Research at eyefortransport, suggests that greening is "a fundamentally co-operative process. Where there is drive there often lacks the knowledge and resources necessary to green the logistics process successfully. This includes green being both an environmentally and financially sustainable proposition. As such, collaboration amongst logistics users, providers, suppliers, and even between competitors is necessary, and we were not surprised to find it on the rise."
Indeed, an average of 25% of respondents reported that they have or plan to partner with a logistics providers to help them green their processes, and an additional 27% are actively exploring the possibility of adding a logistics partner to help move environmental projects forward. This push towards green is reported to be driven by a number of factors, including financial ROI (45%), public relations payback (34%), and improved supply chain efficiency (34%).
In order to survey the current landscape, respondents were asked what actual green initiatives have been implemented or planned in their companies. The results revealed that 63% are or are planning to improve energy efficiency, 45% are redesigning warehousing and distribution center networks, 42% are re-routing vehicles to reduce miles, and 40% are measuring and/or reducing emissions.
Furthermore, though environmental initiatives are widely thought of as detrimental to supply chain efficiency, in fact 61% of respondents report that their current green transport and logistics initiatives are not affecting their efficiency, while a further 34% report that green initiatives are actually making their supply chains more efficient. Only 5% of respondents reported a decrease in supply chain efficiency due to green initiatives.
To download the full report for free visit http://www.greenlogisticsforum.com/2008/free_report.shtml
eyefortransport conducted the survey to celebrate the launch of its Green Transportation & Logistics World Summit being held in Zurich on February 20-21, 2007. Full details including the agenda and speaker list can be found at www.eft.com/zurichsummit.