Emissions

Goals to cut CO² emissions include a pathway agreement with Maersk to cut emissions by 15 percent per Agility container by 2020.

Customers, governments and industry groups continue pressing for huge reductions in supply chain emissions, mainly in transportation. Road traffic accounts for most of CO2 emissions, 73 percent. Air traffic is 12 percent; ocean shipping 10 percent; pipeline leakage 3 percent; rail traffic 2 percent.

The maritime shipping industry has been aggressive in its attempts to tackle the emissions problem. In April, the International Maritime Organization (IMO), a United Nations body, said greenhouse gas emissions from international shipping should be slashed by at least 50 percent by 2050 from 2008 levels. CO2 emissions are to be eliminated entirely by then, the IMO said.

Agility represents the freight forwarding industry on the steering committee of the Clean Cargo Working Group (CCWG), an international coalition of logistics providers, ocean carriers and retailers committed to improving the environmental performance of maritime container transport. CCWG carriers handle 85 percent of containerized global shipments. This year, the CCWG is expanding its scope to include the airfreight industry.

In 2016, Agility teamed up with another member of the group, Maersk, the world’s largest container ship operator. The goal: to cut CO2 emissions by 15 percent per container transported on Agility shipments by 2020. Agility and Maersk are reducing emissions by shifting cargo to more fuel-efficient ships, optimizing networks, routes and sailing schedules, and integrating emissions data into their regular business information flow.

A few of the ways Agility is helping customers lower emissions:

• Modeling shipping variables with a proprietary tool that allows them to design the most efficient, low-carbon supply chain possible (see Modelling Tool).
• Measuring and reporting CO2 emissions monthly. Aggregated emissions can be integrated into monthly, quarterly and annual business reports and can be configured based on origin and destination locations, customer hierarchy of priorities, or other criteria.
• Offering pre-shipment CO2 estimates on shipafreight.com, the new self-service online portal powered by the Agility network.
• Providing CO2 emissions estimates on the Agility Android and iPhone mobile application, an easy-to-use tool even for users who aren’t shipping with Agility.
• Reporting electricity, fuel and water consumption, and waste generation via a proprietary application that converts consumed electricity into CO2 emissions using International Energy Agency standards. The application provides real-time reports on emissions and feeds data into regular reports to customers.
• Converting local fleets in places such as Thailand to compressed natural gas and training drivers to reduce idling time and cut speeds to lessen environmental impact. We also recycle tires, batteries and other truck components.
• Calculating origin and destination trucking emissions, in addition to international ocean and air shipping emissions.
• Working with CarbonTrust to provide data that enables customers to offset their CO2 emissions. Emissions from shipments typically are reported on an “at least” basis, meaning they offer an estimate of “at least” what has been emitted on a journey.