Shippers are looking for ways to improve their sustainability, and third-party logistics providers and digital freight-matching companies are increasingly announcing ways to help them do that.

In the State of Supply Chain Sustainability 2020 report by the MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics and the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals, more than 80% of the 1,100 stakeholders surveyed reported sustainability as a priority or something that was quickly becoming a significant corporate goal. More than 45% of respondents said they were under pressure to adopt supply chain sustainability practices. Despite these numbers, less than 50% of those surveyed were able to point to actionable sustainability goals.

Several logistics providers and technology companies recently announced "green" initatives:

Flock Freight Offsets Carbon Emissions

Flock Freight, which offers a shared truckload shipping solution, announced a partnership with Carbonfund.org Foundation to offset 100% of carbon emissions of its FlockDirect shipping mode in 2021 through carbon offsets at no extra cost to shippers.

All emissions produced by FlockDirect truck shipments will be accounted for in full and eliminated through the purchase of carbon offsets in partnership with Carbonfund.org, with the goal of offsetting 20,000 metric tons in carbon emissions in 2021.

Flock Freight said its shared truckload solution, which eliminates terminals, already cuts freight-related carbon emissions by up to 40%. It said it reduced 4,127 metric tons in carbon emissions in 2020 as a part of its pledge for sustainability as the first in the industry to become B Corporation certified.

Convoy Joins Climate Pledge

Convoy digital freight network has joined The Climate Pledge, a commitment co-founded by Amazon and Global Optimism to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2040, 10 years ahead of the goal set out in the United Nations' Paris Agreement. Convoy is one of more than 100 organizations that have signed the Climate Pledge, which commits signatories to three principal areas of action:

• Measuring and reporting greenhouse gas emissions on a regular basis 

• Implementing decarbonization strategies 

• Neutralizing any remaining emissions with additional, quantifiable, real, permanent, and socially beneficial offsets

Convoy said its technology is already eliminating carbon emissions from the trucking industry by enhancing the ability to connect shipments more effectively. For example, Convoy’s Automated Reloads program reduces empty miles from the industry standard of 35% to 19% by bundling shipments into a single job for a driver. To date, Convoy has eliminated more than 2.6 million pounds of carbon emissions for its customers, including Fortune 500 shippers such as Anheuser-Busch, P&G, Niagara, and Unilever.

C.H. Robinson Carbon Emissions Insights

C.H. Robinson announced several new initiatives to help customers reduce their carbon footprints.

Emissions IQ is a free, self-serve tool for customers to instantly show a company’s carbon emissions across all forms of transportation globally.

In addition, a collaboration with MIT and the Environmental Protection Agency will give companies a standardized way to measure the emissions of their partial truckloads for the first time. And C.H. Robinson says it offers data for companies to benchmark their carbon output against their industry and other shippers. In its pilot phase, Emissions IQ has already helped 125 companies reduce their carbon emissions by a total of 350,000 metric tons of CO₂ equivalents, according to the company – as much carbon as 39 million gallons of gasoline would emit. 

“You can only change what you can measure,” said C.H. Robinson’s Chief Human Resources and E.S.G. Officer Angie Freeman. “Even companies committed to sustainability have struggled to capture their emissions across complex, multi-faceted supply chains. By putting useful technology and data at their fingertips, we’re not only increasing the transparency of emissions in our industry, but we’re surfacing the best strategies for customers to make meaningful carbon reductions right now.”

Blume Global Commits to Carbon Neutrality

Blume Global, a global provider of multi-modal logistics and supply chain solutions, announced a company-wide commitment to becoming fully carbon neutral. It has partnered with South Pole, a climate solutions provider and project developer. The company is also using its domestic reload and street turns solutions to eliminate waste throughout the supply chain.

Blume’s main focus will be on improving sustainability practices via greenhouse gas accounting, developing an emissions-reduction plan that will be examined and renewed annually. To help reduce Blume’s current carbon footprint, the organization is also investing in carbon-offset projects.