Carbon Neutral Transport: Green Logistics

While research on new technologies that can mitigate the climate crisis continues in the world, global businesses have turned their eyes to green solutions that can be used in the field of logistics. According to McKinsey’s research data, it is stated that investments in green technologies should reach approximately 1.5-2 trillion dollars every year starting from 2025 in order to reach the neutral level of the climate target in the world. According to this target, in order for climate-neutral policies to succeed, there is a need to switch to environmentally friendly energies and practices in many areas, especially in transport, and to develop awareness in this sense from all sides. We have compiled the subject of green logistics, which focuses on working in accordance with the sustainability of logistics activities in the global market.

In the Supply Chain, environmentally friendly practices are being studied in many operational processes in production and afterwards. Green logistics is any business practice that aims to make operations more sustainable. Considering that many activities other than production proceed in the field of logistics, transport activities are the source of a high proportion of carbon emissions other than industrial wastes. As a solution to this problem, the preference of Green Logistics solutions is pointed out. In other words, green logistics, also called eco-logistics, is the organization of logistics activities in the supply chain in order to minimize damage to the environment and in accordance with the carbon neutrality target.

With the introduction of green logistics elements in the transport of green products, we encounter a chained and detailed system in which green supply chain management is a whole. Measures such as calculating and minimizing CO2 emissions per unit product transport, taking measures to prevent noise pollution, determining the intermodal transport rate, analyzing the environmental impact of storage areas and taking action in this sense play a role in the continuity of green logistics.

Green Logistics practices include: maintaining production, packaging and distribution processes within the framework of ecological measures; careful planning and implementation of all processes of logistics according to the environmental factor; the use of environmentally friendly motor vehicles such as electric vehicles, vehicles with EURO 4, 5 standards and vehicles equipped with anti-noise equipment; ensuring energy saving in warehouses and facilities; working in accordance with waste and recycling in packaging and distribution and preferring renewable energy sources.

The application of green energies in storage should be included in the relevant measures. Green friendly energies: wind energy, solar energy, geothermal energies, underground heating and new green energies that can be added thanks to new technologies should be used in the organization of work inside the warehouse and in open areas. The realization of heating and cooling in warehouses with green resources other than carbon derivatives, with the aim of carbon neutrality, and the use of green energy-powered vehicles that do not use fossil fuels in urban distributions are practices that carry logistics enterprises to green logistics. In addition, efficient implementation of waste management and recycling should be added to the transformation efforts of logistics enterprises.

Looking at green logistics practices around the world, differences related to distributions in developed countries draw attention. For example, the special city distribution system created with the use of electric vehicles in the Netherlands, and environmentally friendly vehicles such as cargo trams are used in Switzerland. In many regions such as Barcelona, Dublin and London, trucks equipped with a noise-cancelling system are driven at night or only at certain hours in accordance with the distribution conditions planned according to the sensitivity of the goods. In other words, the transfer of short-lived, sensitive, cold chain goods and the transfer of long-lived or non-heat resistant goods are categorized and the distribution is divided into hours that will bring savings according to the quality. In addition to night distribution, pioneering work on recycling and waste is also organized. For example, in Sweden, the plant works to ensure the effective transfer of harmful substances through recycled cardboard and paper. Also in Sweden, a brand called SEEC Energy Store offers innovative solutions in the field of environmentally friendly building technology and geothermal heating. These solutions utilize zero-carbon emission energies such as solar cells, wind power or hydropower. Geothermal heating is a green energy source that can be used in storage and as an environmentally friendly application in residential buildings.

One of the important issues in the spread and effectiveness of green logistics is that businesses should measure their negative impacts on the environment and be transparent in sharing these measurements. In order for businesses to have a meaningful impact on global climate goals, they need to transparently declare their efforts, take concrete steps to try to minimize these figures and share these reports with the public with the same transparency.

Businesses should be more incentivized to green logistics with solutions such as increasing relevant sanctions, examining the savings and regulatory commitments of businesses and grading success according to these commitments in the global arena. In this way, regulations, audits and incentives should be increased and expanded to ensure that businesses turn towards green logistics. Funds and commercial concessions should be created for businesses using alternative sources. In developing countries, regulations and policies parallel to EU transport standards and green transport rules and sanctions should be adopted and supervised.

The extent to which businesses understand the concepts of Green Logistics and Green Supply Chain Management is increasingly being questioned. Businesses have a long way to go to develop the sensitivity to recognise that sustainability is much more than a corporate effort, discourse or an opportunity to stand out in a competition, as a debt to future generations.

Businesses have to benefit from the blessings of technology in the transport and storage of green-labelled products and to ensure that the green chain does not deteriorate; for this, beyond declaring their cooperation with logistics companies that invest in green logistics practices, they should continue this with a binding cooperation. It should display a conscious attitude regarding what kind of services it expects from the logistics companies to be cooperated with. It is of great importance for businesses to add special clauses on Green Logistics in their logistics contracts, to include them clearly in the terms of the agreement and to organize their activities in fleet management in line with these clauses. In addition to the honest and concrete steps of the enterprises, regular and controlled auditing of logistics services for the control of environmental pollution and sharing the reports transparently with the public can also be considered among the effective solutions.

Green logistics should also be adopted as a sales, marketing and strategic communication policy. In PR efforts, the actions taken to express sensitivity and to implement it carefully as well as all operations with a holistic approach should be expressed through various PR actions. From the consumer’s point of view, it is possible to create a multidimensional impact when the consumption of green labelled products, green logistics and environmentally friendly supply chain labels are added to this.