An Industry Is Going Green – We’ll Show You How
The major trend toward environmental sustainability has led to a transformation in consciousness in business, public policy, and society. Innovative, forward-thinking companies have already integrated sustainability into their corporate strategies on both the national and international levels in order to reduce emissions. The transportation and logistics sectors are their particular focus, as they are responsible for more than 20 percent of the world’s emissions.
That’s why for more than three years, we have been developing innovative solutions and services here at arvato Systems as part of our SCM portfolio and assisting companies in the implementation of sustainability measures. Recording and reducing CO2 emissions is already at the top of many companies’ strategy lists.
Green Logistics is an effective tool for reducing costs while at the same time improving a company's image.
Be responsible for your company, your customers, yourself, and your environment!
Here’s how you can get involved
Steps to reduce your carbon footprint
Reducing your carbon footprint is the first step toward sustainability.
Calculating your carbon footprint allows you to analyze, monitor, and optimize all the processes and energy drivers in your company. This procedure is a first step toward making everything your company does more sustainable, and it will help to prepare you for the political and economic requirements that you will soon face in the area of environmental protection.
Recording
In order to compile a complete carbon footprint, the first step is to accurately record your company’s emissions along the entire value chain.
Calculating the Carbon Footprint
All energy consumption is assessed according to specific emissions factors for fuels, power, and other operating supplies. The consolidation and calculation is conducted in three categories (known as Scope 1-3) based on comprehensive guidelines such as DIN EN 16258, the GHG Protocol, etc.
Controlling
Calculating your own carbon emissions is a first step toward achieving greater transparency. However, companies that have set concrete emissions goals for themselves constantly need to keep an eye on their current and target values in order to promptly implement corrective measures whenever necessary. For this purpose, a CO2 monitoring system to keep track of emissions drivers during the course of the year will need to be installed.
Simulation
Measures for improvement must be assessed based on more than just climate protection goals; they must also be evaluated in terms of cost, time, and quality. Simulations and what-if scenarios can help to identify and assess the effects and interactions of planned measures early on.
Sales & Marketing
The right communications and marketing strategy can help to raise awareness of the issue among employees and strengthen the company’s focus on acquiring new customers and suppliers.
Steps toward calculating the product carbon footprint
The carbon footprint refers to a company’s own processes. The product carbon footprint, on the other hand, also includes suppliers and the aftermarket. CO2 emissions are calculated based on a central unit of production, such as a t-shirt, chocolate bar, magazine, medicine, etc.
Definition of Carbon Footprint Scope
Definition of system boundaries (supplier tiers, commerce tiers, aftermarket, participants, raw materials, energy production, etc.) and depth of calculation and analysis.
Process Recording
Process analysis and recording of the product life cycle, from the acquisition of raw materials to product disposal (including all raw materials, activities, and processes).
Data Acquisition
Definition of data structures and sources, data acquisition and consistency check of dynamic data and classification factors.
Calculation
The sum of all mass, energy, and waste flows across the entire scope determined for the carbon footprint multiplied by the respective emissions factors, with a sensitivity analysis at the conclusion.
Reporting of Results
Disclosure of the entire product carbon footprint and an emissions and emission drivers analysis.
Recommendations for Action
Identification of potential for optimization, potential analysis and recommendations for action, CO2 neutralization assessment.
Green Mobility – Climate protection through incentive models for company car fleets
Due to steadily rising energy costs, fuel-saving competitions are enjoying growing popularity. In the context of these competitions, successful participants are rewarded for economical driving habits. This spurs on competition and increases motivation. Previous experience has shown that such competitions can generate fuel consumption savings of more than five percent. As a side effect, environmental protection targets are also supported, as every liter of fuel saved reduces CO2 emissions.
Employees have generally paid little attention to economical driving habits or fuel-saving vehicles on business trips with a company car or rental car. For this reason, incentive-based models are ideal for sparking a change of thinking among employees. Everyone has the following options for changing their consumption habits over the long term:
- Choosing a fuel-saving vehicle
- Foresighted driving & early gear shifting
- Reducing engine RPMs & speed
- Turning off the engine whenever possible (e.g., at traffic lights)
- Not carrying excess weight in the car
- Maintenance & engineering (e.g., tire pressure, engine maintenance)
You will need intelligent data management systems if you want to implement fuel-saving models in order to regularly conduct transparent current/target calculations for each driver/trip and to determine which incentives should be applied. Additionally, you need to build up a wide range of data sources and interfaces. arvato Systems has developed the perfect calculation methods and data management solutions for just this purpose; we also offer assistance with all the necessary steps, right through to the implementation of fuel-saving models.
Still have questions? – We would be happy to advise you on how you can successfully implement this solution at your company.
Green Mobility – Climate protection through incentive models for truck fleets
Due to steadily rising energy costs, fuel-saving competitions are enjoying growing popularity. In the context of these competitions, successful participants are rewarded with incentives for economical driving habits. This spurs on competition and consequently increases motivation. Previous experience has shown that such competitions can generate fuel consumption savings of more than five percent. As a side effect, environmental protection targets are also supported, as every liter of fuel saved reduces CO2 emissions.
Many trucking companies already work with incentive plans. After all, fuel costs account for 20–30 percent of operating costs – and rising energy prices mean that these figures are likely to continue growing. However, most common incentive models are based on unfair calculation methods, as influential factors such as weight, route profile, vehicle type, etc. are not included in the comparative analysis or are only included in a very basic way. Moreover, the maximum gain in most models is limited to €100–150 per month. The result is a loss of motivation among drivers and minimal fuel savings.
arvato Systems has developed an incentive model that uses an innovative calculation method to ensure that calculations are as fair as possible and that allows for higher incentive payments than other models. This is accomplished by means of a comprehensive approach that crosses company and technological boundaries and allows drivers to compete with not only their own colleagues, but with drivers from other companies as well. This increases the competitive nature of the incentive program. Additionally, fleet managers receive further information about the efficiency of their fleets in comparison to other companies. The concept is scheduled to be implemented within 2012 as part of a pilot project.
Still have questions? – We would be happy to advise you on how you can successfully implement this solution at your company.
CO2 Benchmark – Performance analysis of trucking companies
The trend toward implementing climate protection strategies in the shipping industry has generated a change of thinking in supplier management. In addition to criteria such as price, quality, and time, analyses are now also being conducted according to environmental efficiency. Currently, only a few shipping companies (< 3%) have adapted their evaluation systems to reflect these new criteria. One of the reasons that so few companies have done so is that there are currently no standardized guidelines or models that would allow for a fair comparison of environmental efficiency between various suppliers (generally trucking companies).
arvato Systems’ CO2 benchmarking is based on the standard guidelines for calculating carbon footprints on the one hand, and it contains comprehensive additional analysis and evaluation options in order to measure suppliers’ CO2 performance on the other. This consists of the current CO2 emissions and the CO2 emissions trend for each combination of transportation types (maritime, air, road, rail), stationary transshipment or logistics processes, and geographical segments.
The CO2 benchmarking system was developed based on a highly flexible and intuitive software solution that can be easily integrated into existing supplier management systems and IT environments.
Benefits at a glance:
- Fair analysis of suppliers’ environmental efficiency according to consistent rules Environmental efficiency ranking for all suppliers
- Potential analysis of measures for improvement
- Determination and monitoring of environmental efficiency targets
- Comparison of tender documents
- Assessment and selection based on company-specific criteria -
Still have questions? – We would be happy to advise you on how you can successfully implement this solution at your company.
