Sustainable logistics (Green logistics)

The concept of Green logistics refers to all measures aimed at minimising the ecological impact of logistics activities.

Freight transport is responsible for a large proportion of CO₂ emissions (10% of total CO₂ emissions). It is therefore important to find ways of reducing these emissions.

As well as consumers, the main players in this area are industry and transporters.

Industry can choose the most environmentally-friendly modes of transport or optimise its supply chain to reduce transport.

Carriers can install the latest technology equipment (e.g. the Boeing 747-8F aircraft emits 15% less CO₂ than its predecessor, EURO VI trucks) or even adopt best practices such as ecodriving or pooling transport activities to optimise loading rates.

Authorities mainly play the role of regulator by setting the minimum ecological standards of rolling stock to be met (e.g. EURO VI has been the standard for new trucks since 2014 or the EU ETS applied to civil aviation) or modulate taxes according to ecological criteria (vehicle registration taxes are modulated according to CO₂ emissions emitted).

Greening measures such as optimising routes or loads are linked to the development of infrastructure, which must comply with standards (e.g. height of bridges) and be equipped with appropriate intelligent transport systems (ITS).

The elimination of bottlenecks, which are physical limitations on logistical processes, is a priority in Luxembourg (e.g. project to create a transfer facility for 135 m vessels in the port of Mertert, project for a new Burange/Bettembourg interchange).

Labelling and certification initiatives also enable companies to have their greening efforts measured and recognised.

Examples of European labels in this area are European Tk’Blue Agency and European Lean & Green.

The MMTP has joined forces with Connekt to implement the European Lean & Green label in Luxembourg, initially in the logistics sector.

Interested companies can obtain all the relevant information on the Cluster for Logistics website.

Note that CO₂ information is mandatory in various countries (e.g. from January 2014 in France for multimodal transport) and that eco-calculators are available free of charge to analyse and compare environmental impact.