Sustainable Logistics: How Do We Start?

Posted on 18th April 2023

It is clear that many businesses are depending on logistics in order to provide the customers with the appropriate products and services. However, we live in a world that is experiencing climate change – and that has consequences. Therefore, we all need to make more sustainable choices, whether it being business related or private.

Some changes are easy to make and especially when it comes to a private household. You can sort your garbage, eat less meat, use less plastic and many other things. Many people have also started buying second hand items, both regarding clothing and furniture.

The story is quite different when climate friendly alternatives need to be implemented in a business, as that is not quite as simple. It can be extra difficult to implement climate friendly alternatives in a business when the business is depending on shipping and logistics in order to carry on. So what are the best choices? Let us look into that in this article! Are you a business owner – and do you need some inspiration on how to implement sustainable global logistics solutions?

Airfreight, sea freight and road freight

There are different benefits of different types of logistics. However, when the topic is sustainability, there is no doubt what kind of logistics is the best one. The winner is sea freight!

There is a massive difference in CO2 emissions, depending on the method of logistics used. Sea freight is for example considered a better alternative, and just like the increased use of technology in businesses, the use of sea freight has also increased.

Many believe that we should just stop shipping goods and only use local products. That may be correct, however, it will be a very drastic solution to climate change. And probably not a very realistic solution either! Many of us are depending on products that are developed on the other side of the world.

When eating less meat in a household, you are also depending on more vegetables – and a larger selection of vegetables – in order to get the correct nutrients. Therefore, to be able to eat less meat, we need logistics and we need businesses that import the different vegetable alternatives.

Why not just continue to eat meat then? We seem to damage the environment regardless of our diet, some may argue. However, it seems that shipping vegetables by sea freight and using those vegetables to a larger extent than meat, still is more beneficial for the environment. Research show that the CO2 emissions are way less per kilo of vegetables shipped, compared to a kilo of meat produced locally.

Making sustainable choices is important – and it is even more important to a business. Making the wrong choices can damage a reputation, and in the end that may have large consequences. A business can initiate many solutions in order to become more sustainable, but some are more important than others. If you are a business owner and you are looking into improving your business with sustainable solutions, using sea freight for your import may be the answer.