CO2, also known as carbon dioxide, is a gas naturally found in the air. Due to man’s everyday activities, the amount of CO2 has increased significantly over the past century. The burning of fossil fuels – on which much of logistics still runs – contributes greatly to this. Read here how to draw up a CO2 reduction plan in three steps and how to optimize your process and make it sustainable.
In 2020, transport and logistics accounted for around one-fifth of global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. This is not surprising, considering that the preponderance of logistics still operates on fossil fuels (worldwide, the burning of fossil fuels pumps about 41 billion tons of CO2 into the air). This is problematic and CO2, more specifically the reduction of CO2 is increasingly put on the agenda worldwide. We can ensure that CO2 returns to a natural balance in the atmosphere and the pressure on acting on this is rising. But how do we do that? And how can the logistics sector in the contribute to that?
1. Starting point: the baseline measurement
Before being able to start reducing CO2, it is important to understand how much CO2 is currently being emitted. This can be done by measuring the CO2 emissions. These measurements then provide important insights into your CO2 performance that shed light on areas that need improvement.
Measuring = knowing = improving
But then the question arises: how are we going to measure? The answer is simple: by drawing up a CO2 reduction plan.
Lean & Green can help you with this and has the tools to set this up together with you. Collaboratively, we set up a dashboard in which we can easily map out the total CO2 emissions of all your logistics activities. With BigMile’s advanced carbon footprint tool, we can even look at the CO2 emissions at shipment level. Interestingly, this is not only possible for the most recent calendar year, but we can also look at your CO2 emissions for the past few years (provided good data is available).
2. Data
An incredibly important part of CO2 mapping is the data. Why? Because we cannot get any insights without data. So, it is important that good data is available. The higher the data quality the better and the more insights we get into the efficiency of the organisation. But what is good data quality? What do we need to complete the dashboard? The following data is needed to be able to map the CO2:
- Total liters (e.g. of diesel) per year;
- Total transport volume of your logistics activities included in scope;
- Consumption figures of your warehouse (if any).
In the Lean & Green program we distinguish between three types of data quality: Bronze, Silver and Gold. The better and more detailed your data is, the higher the data quality, the better the insights are and the better you get a picture of where your profit lies to reduce CO2.
3. Optimization and sustainability
Mapping the current CO2 emissions will leave us with useful insights. These insights ensure that we know where improvements can be made, both, for optimization, but also for sustainability. Many participating companies have proven that this goes hand in hand. You can decide to take measures, for example in the area of cargo, origin and destination and energy and fuel savings.
In summary: start with a base measurement, get your data in order to gain insights and use these to optimize your process and make it more sustainable.
Do you want to know how to map your CO2 footprint as a logistics company? Sign up for the free introductory session.
Or visit www.carbonfootprinting.org for more information on carbon footprinting.