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Project Description
History
History
On December 2-4, 2008, representatives from several countries including Canada, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands, the UK and France gathered for an international summit in Ann Arbor (Michigan). The objectives of the summit were to discuss public private transport programs to reduce fuel consumption and greenhouse gases emissions from goods movement, to share best practices and exchange ideas. The conference was hosted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in cooperation with the University of Michigan. Impressed by the very successful comprehensive SmartWay program of the US EPA, European participants at the summit decided to start a stakeholder process in Europe to evaluate the interest and feasibility of a public private sustainable freight transport programme in Europe.
Broad expert and stakeholder consultations confirmed the need and significant interest in a European approach based on best practices in several European countries, the US and Japan.
A first meeting was organised in Brussels on the 26th of May 2009 with representatives from public authorities from several European countries, European transport and shippers’ organisations and some large companies such as IBM, Mars, P&G, Michelin and Volvo. Many other workshops followed for public and private stakeholders in Europe as well as several meetings with public stakeholders including with members of the cabinet of Commissioner Hedegaard and of Commissioner Siim Kallas, the International Energy Agency, the International Transport Forum, the European Environment Agency and with the US Environmental Protection Agency/SmartWay team in Ann Arbor.
This process resulted in the creation of a workgroup of leading companies and in a proposal to apply to the Intelligent Energy Europe 2010 call for European Co-funding.
This process resulted in the creation of a workgroup of leading companies and in a proposal to apply to the Intelligent Energy Europe 2010 call for European Co-
Background
The Environmental performance of Freight Transport
Over the past decade the amount of freight transported grew rapidly. Greenhouse gas emissions from the transport sector continue to grow in contrast to other sectors such as industry, housing and energy production. In the EEA-
While fuel efficiency of engines has steadily improved over the years the growth of international trade and other trends such as specialisation, lower inventories, just in time deliveries, etc. have largely counteracted this trend. This situation is clearly unsustainable and public policy makers as well as shippers, receivers of goods and transport companies must develop and implement policies to improve the environmental performance of freight transport activities and of supply chains.
Green procurement
The potential of Green Public Procurement as a policy instrument has been increasingly recognised, and over recent years there has been growing political commitment at national, EU and international levels. Green procurement in the industry and in particular green procurement of transport services have only partially been exploited.
The potential of Green Public Procurement as a policy instrument has been increasingly recognised, and over recent years there has been growing political commitment at national, EU and international levels. Green procurement in the industry and in particular green procurement of transport services have only partially been exploited.
Lack of company specific monitoring and reporting tools
Currently all publicly available freight transport calculation tools use average level emission factors for calculating carbon inventories. Average emission factors are acceptable for calculating a very gross estimation of a company’s carbon footprint; however, the accuracy of this estimation is limited by the variability of performance within transport mode and availability and accuracy of default data.
Modal averages can also be used to roughly optimize by transport mode, however, because of variability within a mode, and the interactions between modes, mode selection choices made on modal default data information could lead to incorrect mode choice decisions.
At decision points where variability overlaps average modal emission factors, a mode choice decision will be ambiguous.
At decision points where variability overlaps average modal emission factors, a mode choice decision will be ambiguous.
The other main limitation of modal average emission factors is the obvious one: it is not possible to optimize choices within modes. For many freight shipments, it is impossible to switch modes. Even for transportation moves that allow mode choice, capacity limitations restrict modal optimization. Accordingly, optimizing performance within modes is critical.
To properly calculate carbon inventories, make correct mode choice decisions, and to optimize carbon performance within modes, it is necessary to have company -specific carbon efficiencies. Additionally, it is necessary to further segment company performance by operational and equipment type and other factors, so that proper and fair comparisons may be made.
Building on previous and current programmes and tools
The objective of Climate TransAct is to avoid duplication of work and to try to incorporate or promote existing (sub) programmes and tools. Many of the stakeholders involved in the preliminary stakeholder process expressed their willingness to share their expertise and to collaborate in this field with Climate TransAct.
US EPA SmartWay
Climate TransAct is strongly influenced by the very successful SmartWay Transport Partnership from the US Environmental Protection Agency. SmartWay is a collaborative voluntary program between the US Environmental Protection Agency and industry designed to improve energy efficiency and lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and air pollution.
SmartWay Transport Shippers commit to ship the majority of their goods with SmartWay Transport Carriers. Companies that meet SmartWay Transport Partnership requirements benefit from reduced operating costs and enhanced visibility. In addition, partners that demonstrate superior performance earn the right to display the SmartWay Transport logo.
The EPA in turn provides technical assistance, helping partners benchmark and achieve their goals to improve energy efficiency and lower GHG emissions. The program also provides modelling tools, information exchange and data that identify fuel use, emissions output and the effectiveness of a broad range of technology, equipment controls and fuel-saving logistics management strategies. In addition, the SmartWay program has been working with financial institutions to provide flexible, reduced-interest loans to improve access to these fuel-saving technologies and pollution controls.
SmartWay has over 2,800 Partners representing:
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Over 650,000 trucks
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Over 60 billion miles per year (30% of industry)
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Over 12 billion gallons of fuel (32% of industry)
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Since 2004, SmartWay Partners saved:
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16 million metric tons of CO2
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1.4 billion gallons of diesel fuel
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3.5 billion dollars in fuel costs
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SmartWay is participating with the Clean Air Initiative (CAI)-
Clean Cargo Working Group
Clean Cargo Working Group is a business-
Existing national programmes in Europe
France
The French Ministry of Ecology and Sustainable Development and Spatial Planning (MEEDDAT) and the French Environment and Energy management Agency (ADEME), together with the main French road transport and logistics associations launched in 2008 “Objectif CO2. Les transporteurs s’engagent”. This voluntary Public Private programme to reduce CO2 emissions in the transport sector provides a framework for transport companies to commit to reducing their fuel consumption and CO2 reduction. The programme includes a CO2 diagnosis (baseline), the identification of company specific environmental performance indicators, emission reduction goals to be realised within 3 years and action plans.
Finland
A voluntary program on energy efficiency in freight transport and logistics has been agreed in 2007 between several Ministries and the Logistics Association SKAL, Association of Logistics Companies and VR Group Ltd (Finnish Railways).
The program is focused on road and rail transportations and related logistics and the objective is to implement measures that would save fuel consumption in road and rail transport and related logistics. An Energy and Environmental Accounting and Reporting System, EMISTRA, is used as a tool to monitor vehicles' fuel consumption and emissions.
The Netherlands
The Sustainable Logistics Innovation Programme is integrated in Connekt a public private initiative co-
Tools developed by the Sustainable Logistics Platform include Digiscan, a digital calculating tool for identifying the opportunities of saving on transport costs, an internet guidance for the calculation of emissions from logistics sources, a tool to calculate transport emissions of road, rail and inland navigation at corporate level for shippers and carriers, a lean and green label and the Maturity Matrix for sustainable purchasing of logistics services.
United Kingdom
Freight Best Practice is funded by the Department for Transport to promote operational efficiency within freight operations. The programme offers free essential information for truck operators covering following several topics including fuel saving handbooks, Key performance indicators, and Freight quality partnerships.
The On Line Benchmarking (OLB) is a new system to allow transport operators to externally and anonymously benchmark their operations. There are 8 Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) currently available within the system, covering elements of Fuel Performance, Safety, Vehicle Utilisation and Customer Satisfaction.
Private programmes
Several industry associations and companies started to develop own tools for their members to support them to improve the environmental performance of transport activities. Some of these initiatives are listed below:
The Road Map Self Assessment Tool from Efficient Consumer Response Europe (ECR Europe) contains a list of focus areas that relate to sustainable transport.
The Way Ahead launched in 2010 by the European Retail Round Table (ERRT) is a programme that supports the exchange of environmental information between shippers and road freight carriers based on a list of simple questions and qualitative information.
The European Logistics Association (ELA) has taken over the methodology and outcome of the BestLog project in order to assure the continuation of the collection and dissemination of logistics and supply chain best practices.
Eco TransIT is a calculation tool to quantify emissions from freight transport. Eco TransIT was initiated by a number of European railway companies in 2000, and more railway companies have subsequently joined. EcoTransIT compares the energy consumption and emissions of freight transported by rail, road, ship and aircraft based on default emission factor data. EcoTransIT is not a tool to calculate carrier specific emissions but to assess the emissions of specific (multimodal) routes.
The Climate TransAct programme
The objectives of Climate TransAct are to improve the energy efficiency and to reduce the impact of freight transport on the environment by the promotion, support and facilitation of green procurement of transport and logistics services by transport and logistics services buyers (shippers) and to help shippers and carriers to see the rewards for their business of an improved energy and environmental performance.
The Climate TransAct Logo will be a mark of eco-efficient freight transport and the Climate TransAct Partner logo identifies the Partner as a responsible corporate citizen and environmental steward. It lets the public and potential customers know that the Partner is a high environmental performer.
The environmental performance score will determine eligibility to use the Climate TransAct logo.
Companies that meet Climate TransAct Partnership requirements will benefit from reduced operating costs and enhanced visibility. In addition, partners that demonstrate superior performance earn the right to display the Climate TransAct Transport logo. Industry affiliates are also eligible to participate in the program.
Climate TransAct in turn provides technical assistance, helping partners benchmark and achieve their goals to improve energy efficiency and lower GHG and other emissions.
The program will also provide modelling tools, information exchange and data that identify energy use, emissions output and the effectiveness of a broad range of technology, equipment controls and fuel-saving logistics management strategies. In addition, Climate TransAct will centralise and disseminate information on public grants, fiscal and other incentives to improve access to these fuel-saving technologies and pollution controls.
