According to Transporeon’s most recent “2024 Green Freight Report: Is Transportation on Track?”, the modal shift was the most popular strategy for accelerating global freight decarbonization in 2023, with 21.8% of respondents favoring this option. This was closely followed by carrier optimization at 13.8% and load and route optimization at 18.2%, showing a significant demand for effective, multimodal freight solutions.
Notwithstanding the possible economic advantages mentioned by shippers and carriers alike, the study finds a glaring gap in the application of decarbonization tactics. Even while 59% of carriers can currently compute their CO2 emissions, compared to 55% in 2022, a sizeable fraction still rely on estimated data instead of primary data.
Furthermore, the research states that less than half of the shippers use officially recognized procedures such as ISO 14083 or the GLEC framework, which are the gold standard for precise emissions estimation.
The paper also clarifies how businesses view the decarbonization process. 25% of the carriers see it as a major opportunity for business, which is a modest decrease from 27% the year before. The fact that more than half of the shippers view decarbonization as a profitable option also shows the growing acceptance of and potential for green business practices. The main forces behind decarbonization are still regulation and financial incentives, with carriers giving preference to clients who give longer contracts or pay more for reduced emissions.
The main forces behind decarbonization are still regulation and financial incentives, with carriers giving preference to clients who give longer contracts or pay more for reduced emissions. The immediate savings on operating costs of quick wins, including implementing fuel reduction technology and transportation management platforms that support CO2 measurement and reduction, are especially noteworthy.
The study does, however, point out a worrying lack of cooperation and data sharing. A concerning 46.8% of carrier respondents are unwilling to give their primary data for CO2 computation, and just 20% of respondents measure emissions using primary data. This lack of cooperation indicates a major obstacle in the industry’s journey towards sustainability, as does the fact that 53% of shippers are not actively including their carriers in decarbonization initiatives.
Moreover, a significant seventy percent of carriers stated that shippers were requesting less CO2 data from them than they did the year before, suggesting a possible slowdown in proactive decarbonization initiatives.
Only 3% of respondents said that industry-wide cooperation was important. This suggests that there will be obstacles in the way of a completely decarbonized freight sector.
According to this survey, the majority of supply chain stakeholders believe that collaboration is too complicated. By using a network strategy, all parties can search for smooth collaboration to increase efficiencies. Decarbonization also necessitates collaboration. In the future, a smart platform can greatly improve collaboration within the freight decarbonization ecosystem by guaranteeing reliable emissions calculations and data trust, according to Transporeon’s head of ecosystem Serge Schamschula.
