As online orders continue to increase, so too does the impact on the planet particularly in terms of carbon dioxide emissions. For the environmentally conscious retailer, how should this be tackled and what is the method of deliver that has the lowest environmental impact?
Taking the UK as an example, fueled by consumer expectations same-day delivery is expected to reach a 25 percent market share by 2025and the situation today, based on 2019-2020 data, 2,823 million packages were shipped throughout the nation.
The level of deliveries provides an indication of the extent of the environmental impact. Yet where a retailer seeks to be environmentally conscious, they also need to compete against other competitor retailers who do not share the same concerns. A pressure that is placed upon logistics is to reduce delivery deadlines and move to a same day delivery model.
One of the environmentally conscious companies is the packaging manufacturing RAJA UK and the firm has undertaken a survey into last-mile logistics.
This survey provides data about methods of delivery transportation and the emissions they produce – the modes of transportation and their emissions in terms of carbon dioxide as grams be kilometer – has been shared with Digital Journal. The source data is from Statista. The table below shows these in descending order, with the highest polluting method at the top.
| Modes of transportation for distribution | Emissions in grams of CO2e per kilometer |
| Domestic flight | 244.3 |
| Regular taxi | 203.69 |
| Long-haul flight | 190.85 |
| Average car (petrol) | 174.3 |
| Average car (diesel) | 168.44 |
| Short-haul flight | 155.53 |
| Average car (hybrid) | 115.58 |
| Average motorbike | 113.37 |
| Average ferry | 112.86 |
| Average local bus | 103.12 |
| Average car (battery powered electric vehicle) | 57.28 |
| National rail | 36.94 |
| Coach | 27.32 |
| Drone | 26.8 |
| Bike | 16 |
The ‘e’ following the chemical symbol for carbon dioxide (CO2e) represents ‘equivalent emissions’. This is a standard unit for measuring carbon footprints and a means to express the total impact of different greenhouse gases. In other words, the impact of any gas in the atmosphere that absorbs and re‐emits heat, keeping the Earth’s atmosphere warmer than it otherwise would be.
The report suggests that drones and bikes are the greenest methods of transportation for distribution for short distances.
The worst offender is flight and a typical domestic flight produces 53.45g more carbon dioxide per kilometer than the average long-haul flight. A battery powered electric vehicle is far less polluting in comparison. The importance here is with ‘green fleets’, replacing petrol vehicles with electric vehicles (and driverless vehicles produce an even lower quantity of the atmospheric pollutant).
With this review based on existing technologies, what promise to new technologies offer in terms of green solutions? A follow-up article “Future technologies of ‘last mile’ sustainable logistics” looks at the possibilities, focusing on contactless solutions. A third article looks at the impact of international travel and the best forms of transport to select when weighing up the green technological impact (“The greenest way to send packages abroad”).
