Freight & Environment

Freight transport is a basic pillar of economy and trade. It will keep growing as globalized production schemes make distances between production sites and consumer markets increase. Freight transport is projected to increase in Europe by the order of 40% by 2015 - more than passenger road transport. This increase in transport volume implies a not tolerable rise in the environmental impact of traffic - one of the big challenges to be handled in the coming decade.

Whereas greenhouse gas emissions have decreased in all sectors in Europe between 1990 and 2005, absolute emissions in the transport sector have grown by 26%. On the European level, 4,192 million tonnes of CO2 are emitted ?per annum, and the transport sector is the primary culprit of GHG emissions. In 2005, greenhouse gas emissions from transport accounted for 21% of the total EU15 emissions. Road transport is by far the biggest transport emission source. So far, however, neither freight transport specifically, nor transport in general has been directly included in the overall EU strategy to reduce CO2 emissions in 2020 by 20% and in 2050 by half.

In addition, the environmental awareness of investors and customers is growing. It is therefore the mission of politicians to improve incentives to reduce emissions. In accordance with the idea of corporate social responsibility (CSR), it is the task of companies to reduce their actual impact on the environment. By putting effort into achieving this goal, companies will not only benefit financially, but will also highlight their awareness of global challenges and this increased awareness of corporate social responsibility will directly improve their public image.

EcoTransIT enables companies to improve their environmental performance by choosing the mode of transport with the lowest impact on the environment.