New Sustainable Freight website enables access to environmental resources

A new website aimed to provide easy access to ‘green freight’ information for South Australia’s $8 billion a year transport and logistics industry has been unveiled.

The site is designed to act as a conduit between the freight and logistics industry (and its customers), relevant environmental and sustainability resources, governments and the general public.

The website Sustainable Freight (www.sustainablefreight.com.au/) was officially launched by the South Australian Freight Council at its inaugural national conference that also saw Senator Nick Xenophon and Minister for Cities and the Built Environment Jamie Briggs present.

The new website reflects SAFC’s ongoing commitment to addressing environmental issues and promoting a ‘whole of chain’ approach to the environment, across the transport and logistics industry and across the modes.

The South Australian Freight Council acknowledges that the interaction, impact and relationship of transport and logistics with the environment is significant at a local, national and international level and cannot be ignored.

SAFC CEO Neil Murphy said: “It is clear that the environment plays an increasing role in transport and logistics and that some concerted action needs to be taken within the freight industry.

“As population and economic activity grows, so too does the freight task, and with it the impacts that freight has on the environment.

“As a result, SAFC believes that the industry has a responsibility to become more sustainable and reduce those negative externalities.

“While there is much debate about the impacts the transport and logistics industry is having on the environment and whether these impacts can or should be mitigated, it is clear that the environment is increasingly becoming part of the ongoing transport and logistics narrative and that proactive sustainability measures must be introduced” Mr Murphy said.

SAFC’s Sustainable Supply Chains Management Team developed the Sustainable Freight website as a ‘one-stop shop’ to support industry’s efforts to reduce its emissions by improving access to transport and logistics sustainability and environmental information and resources

The website also hosts a suite of original resources designed to help companies of all shapes and sizes – from owner-operations to large multinational corporations across the entire supply chain – to reduce their emissions.

The site contains an array of case studies, policy and regulation guides, fact sheets, latest news and comments, multiple interactive carbon calculators and comparison tools for use throughout your supply chain, as well documents aimed at assisting companies to make environmentally based decisions such as the Decision Makers Guide, Perform an Environmental Benchmark, and the Emission Reductions on a Modest Budget documents.

In addition, Sustainable Freight promotes the industry’s green initiatives and raises awareness of the role and importance of freight transport to the economy, with the aim of dispelling the ‘dirty’ image many perceive the transport and logistics industry to be.

Mr Murphy said: “There is a need to educate people about the industry and highlight some of the initiatives already being utilised by the industry to reduce overall emissions.

“We think some of our members deserve more credit and recognition for the ways in which they are integrating sustainability into their everyday business practices, especially as it is not always easily discernible when looking from the outside.”

Source: http://www.tandlnews.com.au/