Sustainability and Logistics

One of the main concerns of both companies and society is focused on reducing emission of CO2 gases and thus reducing the Carbon Footprint that worries us so today.

Data shows that transport is directly responsible for 24% of CO2 emissions, ¾ of which come from road transport. Companies in the logistics sector face a great challenge in implementing measures to achieve this reduction. (Source: Logistop's Rumbo 2021 document).

With an increasingly demanding customer in terms of delivery time, the race to be the first reaching the destination has begun and in many ocassions the customer is unware that faster deliveries also mean higher CO2 emissions.

If we add to this the alignment with the 2030 agenda through the Sustainable Development Goals, it is time to adopt urgent measures to combat climate change and its effects (SDG 13).

Initiatives such as Lean & Green are helping companies to reduce emissions from de supply chain. Currently, this European platform has more than 600 member companies. Lean & Green is already a leading European community in sustainable logistics.

And now comes the big question: is sustainable logistics already being implemented? Would we like to be more environmentally friendly and also translate this into cost savings?

Improvements in sustainability are positive for any company, but if they also lead to cost savings, it's a win-win for everyone.

Artificial Intelligence and the Environment, great allies

There is no magic formula or single recipe, but there are a multitude of strategies and actions that your company can take to move forward, some examples:

• Optimize delivery routes to reduce distances traveled and fuel consumption. 
• Centralize deliveries, thus reducing delivery points, by using common lockers or warehouses in a neighborhood, for example, and thus reducing the number of trips. To maintain the same home delivery service, smaller and more sustainable means of transport ca be used within the city to make a second delivery between the ticket office or intermediate point (urban hub) and the end customer. It would not be an applicable solution to the las mile problem but we would be contributing to be more respectful with the environment.
• By being more efficient in filling trucks we reduce not only the number of vehicles but also the CO2 emissions in our environment.
• Adopting less polluting vehicles.

A key aspect for any of these strategies is to measure the results. Tracking apps and other softwares to allow us to collect and analize tha information in real time are fundamental pillar of the solution.

And what can we do with company data? Real data from companies allows us to create virtual scenarios to see some changes could affect without having to do these recreations in a real and resource-consuming way. Decisions should be based more on data analysis rather than a intuition.

Technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) can be our great allies in making our business more sustainable and environmentally friendly. At the same time, it can help us to optimize the entire last mile logistics process, improve the efficiency of our resources and save costs. Technology at the service of your company to plan those routes taht keep us less timpe on the road and at the same time reduce fuel consumption.

The time has come to take your company to the next level and make it more efficient for sustainable development.