According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), transportation has seen the biggest rise in greenhouse gas emissions. With this in mind, it’s clear we need to make urban transport more sustainable.
Businesses that implement green transportation as part of their sustainable business practices across their business operations are sure to benefit not only people and the planet but their business too. It is a costly investment initially but one that is very necessary for the fight to stop putting so much pressure on the planet’s resources.
What is green transportation?
Green transportation essentially refers to any eco-friendly kind of transportation. This can include the methods a business adopts to make sure that its vehicles are operating in a sustainable manner. To ultimately go green, the transportation choices made by a business should involve replacing their existing fleet with electric transportation that uses renewable energy like biofuels and technology to optimise routes.
Green alternatives of transportation fall under a larger umbrella of green logistics that includes other kinds of carbon-neutral practices like green investment and sustainable procurement. Ultimately, it is all about lessening the environmental impact of transportation and distribution of goods and services. For example, earlier this year, Amazon took a big step by implementing electric vehicles as part of its effort to become climate-neutral.
How greening logistics can benefit businesses
Implementing sustainable transport requires a holistic approach that is embedded with socially responsible and ecologically-friendly methods that address social, environmental, and economic challenges. As a result, there are lots of pros to adopting sustainable transport for the people and the planet but also your business.
For example, research studies have found that while implementing green transport is costly initially, highly sustainable businesses are outperforming those non-sustainable organisations in the long term. There are significant cost advantages to reducing emissions by implementing sustainable transport.
Additionally, like most other eco-friendly business practices, implementing sustainable transport improves your reputation and brand image. This is because you are seen as acting socially responsible, and this is something customers increasingly care about nowadays.
Similarly, making the switch can also drive customer loyalty. This is because customers currently are more interested in supporting brands that are doing social and environmental good. Therefore, showing you are taking action by implementing sustainable transport is a step in the right direction in the eyes of your customers.
Conclusion – implementing green transportation for your business
Now that you understand how going green with your transport can equate to business success, you are probably curious about how to implement green transportation. There are lots of different ways to take this approach. Some businesses do this by investing in energy-efficient vehicles, be it hybrid or electric vans, trucks, or cars.
Additionally, you can also look for vehicles that use alternative, clean fuels. For example, biofuels are a great way to reduce emissions associated with transportation. These kinds of fuels are manufactured from a range of feedstocks and promise decarbonisation. Managing your fleet in real-time using AI software will also help you to optimise journeys and have more sustainable transport across your business operations.
