Department of Transport backs Logistics Carbon Reduction Scheme
Lord Adonis, the Secretary of State for Transport, last week backed a new scheme from the Freight Transport Association (FTA) to report the logistics sector’s carbon footprint publicly.
The Logistics Carbon Reduction Scheme aims at reducing carbon emissions from road freight and is open to companies using commercial freight transport, both FTA members and non-members, to join until the end of March 2010. So far it has been backed by some of the leading members of the FTA, covering over 23,000 commercial vehicles.
Under the scheme, participants will commit to submitting their fuel data to the FTA for analysis, through which they will be able to report on and reduce the logistics’ sectors carbon footprint. The aim is to produce a fair, accurate and consistent method of measuring and reporting fuel consumption and, by using Government-approved conversion factors, carbon dioxide emissions.
In backing the scheme, Andrew Adonis acknowledged the need to reduce carbon emissions from the logistics sector, which accounts for 30 per cent of overall domestic transport emissions, as part of the UK Government’s commitment under the 2008 Climate Change Act to reduce carbon emissions by 34 per cent by 2020 against 1990 levels, and by a further 80 per cent by 2050.
The FTA is keen to promote the efforts that have already been made by many of their members in making the significant changes required to make fuel savings while remaining competitive during an economic downturn. It hopes the Logistics Carbon Reduction Scheme will provide an accurate picture of the progress made by the logistics sector so that any future carbon reduction requirements can be based on hard evidence.
Complying with carbon reduction targets is no longer simply an option for those in the logistics sector, but also an economic necessity. Efforts to make fuel savings include investing in technology such as CMS SupaTrak’s EcoTrak system which helps fleet managers to monitor driver behaviour that may be less than optimally efficient, such as failing to change gear in time to keep engine revs low, breaking speed limits, or leaving the engine idling when parked.
