Carriers must lead on sustainability before regulators crack down

Logistics and delivery companies have to take the lead on sustainability by reducing their environmental impacts before regulators and governments impose stricter rules, speakers warned at this week’s Leaders In Logistics event in Barcelona.

Moderating a panel discussion on ‘Balancing customer convenience with cost and sustainability’, city logistics expert Alan Barrie cited the example of Barcelona, where the city has introduced a law obliging carriers to deliver 40% of their last-mile volumes to pick-up points and is taxing those who still deliver more to homes instead.

Consolidated deliveries

Similarly, Tadej Visinski, managing director of Direct4.me, highlighted the example of Oslo where all last-mile deliveries have to be made to a consolidation hub and then one single company makes the final delivery to the recipient.

“Legislation will drive consolidation and cooperation between carriers,” he predicted. He also warned that lockers alone are not a solution as the number of delivery vehicles in cities needs to be reduced as well.

Shipment level data

Holger Winklbauer, CEO of International Post Corporation, said that while carriers have to listen to customers, IPC survey results show that only 8% of consumers are “ready to take responsibility” on sustainability issues and most say that delivery companies or retailers must take responsibility instead.

IPC is now aiming to develop its SMMS programme (which measures the CO2 emissions of participating members) by providing shipment-level data, he said. However, there are currently different standards for measuring CO2 emissions per parcel, he noted.

Looking ahead, Winklbauer stressed the need for carriers to cooperate more, to electrify their fleets and to use more reusable packaging.

City initiatives

Thiemo van Spellen, Geopost’s Group Global Accounts Managing Director, agreed that consumers “are not willing to pay” for sustainable logistics, so logistics companies had to take responsibility and, as in the case of Geopost, set their own net zero targets. “Geopost is working with cities… but it is often the cities that are pushing and driving initiatives,” he pointed out.

Responding to a question about future trends, he highlighted the emergence of large-scale C2C selling and the potential for ‘social commerce’ with selling and buying through social media platforms. “The role of the consumer will change drastically in the coming years,” he predicted.

Shared capacity

Alexander van Schie, PostNL’s Director of Group Strategy, claimed that in the Netherlands e-commerce was “more sustainable than going to the shops” and highlighted how the Dutch postal group had opened its parcel lockers to GLS and is now in discussions with other carriers about sharing capacity.

Looking ahead, he questioned how the purchasing behaviour of GenZ consumers would develop, especially given the divide between sustainability and buying goods from China online.