improvement strategies is for companies to reduce their carbon footprint. Companies are starting to take a more systematic approach toward their emissions goals. “These strategies are not just based on their operations or on what they think they can do and what will be comfortable for them,” Grabmayr says. “They’re based on the science and where we need to be.” TESTING GREEN IQ C.H. Robinson’s latest contribution to the science is Emissions IQ, a free, self-service tool that calculates users’ carbon emissions across all forms of transportation. For companies that partner with C.H. Robinson, Emissions IQ analyzes data on past shipments, drawn from the 3PL’s management systems, to calculate emissions. “Each mode of transportation has an emissions intensity score— basically a carbon score,” Gagnon says. The tool currently covers North American truckload, less-than-truckload, and rail shipments. C.H. Robinson will add air and ocean shipments later in 2021. Shippers that manage logistics internally can use data from their own transportation management systems, engaging C.H. Robinson as a consultant to help refine their strategies based on
GROW YOUR OWN While some companies strive to burn less fuel, others in the logistics sector are trying to slow global warming by burning different fuels. One of those alternatives is Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF), made by recycling used vegetable oils and other biomass waste. In April 2021, logistics company DB Schenker and airline Lufthansa Cargo started what they say is the world’s first regular carbon-neutral flight, using SAF to power an aircraft once a week between Frankfurt amMain and Shanghai Pudong. The partners say that the CO2 released in flight equals the amount removed from the atmosphere during the growth of the plants that produce the fuel, resulting in net zero carbon emissions. Greenhouse gases emitted when manufacturing and transporting the fuel are offset by investments in sustainability projects. United Airlines is also using SAF to help green its operations, forming the Eco-Skies Alliance to encourage investments in its biofuels programs. United customers that join the alliance contribute part of the cost of purchasing SAF, helping to reduce emissions and demonstrate a demand for low-emissions fuel. CEVA Logistics announced in April 2021 that it had joined the Eco-Skies Alliance. French shipping line CMA CGM Group recently supported the production of 12,000 tons of biomethane made from organic and plant waste sourced in Europe. That is enough to fuel the equivalent of two 1,400-TEU ships powered by liquid natural gas between Saint Petersburg and Rotterdam for one year, the company says. CMA CGM plans to invest in biomethane production facilities and study the viability of liquefaction processes, with the goal of employing biomethane as a shipping fuel.
what they learn from the tool. Emissions IQ provides a high-
level summary of a company’s carbon emissions, allowing comparisons over time or among various modes. Users can also drill down on specific factors, such as the geographical makeup of the carbon footprint, or where opportunities for improvement lie. For example, a user could run what-if scenarios to see the potential impact of switching some freight to a different mode, or consolidating some shipments. The 125 companies that used Emissions IQ during a pilot implementation discovered strategies that helped them collectively reduce
can help shippers shrink their carbon footprints by generating more efficient routes, the new Onfleet Offset program uses a different strategy for greening the supply chain, offering a chance to invest in projects that mitigate the effects of CO2 emissions. “More than 1,000 businesses are on our platform, and if it was easier for them to track and offset their emissions,
their carbon emissions by 350,000 metric tons, says Angie Freeman, chief human resources officer and environmental, social and corporate governance officer at C.H. Robinson. Onfleet, a San Francisco-based global provider of last-mile delivery management software, also recently started measuring carbon emissions for its customers. While Onfleet’s software
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