UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres stated, “It’s time to say: enough. Enough of brutalizing biodiversity. Enough of killing ourselves with carbon.” Today as the effect of global warming and climate change are becoming more apparent with an increase in the frequency of natural disasters, rise in sea levels and disruption in biodiversity both companies and consumers have become more concerned in adopting sustainable business practices and demanding sustainable business products respectively.
The journey to building a sustainable future is no stroll in the park, but it's all the good that it promises for the planet that makes it crucial for businesses to align our practices with the fundamental principles of sustainability.
For those who are completely new to the concept of sustainable business models and the barriers that we encounter when it comes to carbon neutrality and net-zero targets, we have summarized below some common problems that can occur to help give you a clearer picture!
As part of strategic planning, sustainable businesses often make pledges for carbon neutrality that are to be fulfilled later sometime for example with a gap of a few months or a year or two, but this can be problematic for several reasons, primarily economic viability as offsets might become more expensive later on, disrupting the business planning, costs, etc. This issue is especially relevant today due to the economic uncertainty that surrounds us. For this particular reason, pledges tend to lose the element of realism and can go away unfulfilled.
Sustainability projects such as going net-zero though help contribute a lot on individual levels, require joint community effort to be most effective because achieving a net-zero planet will require all businesses to play their role in it but unfortunately today those companies who have the most amount of emissions is least concerned about offsetting carbon or going net-zero. This has proven to be a major demotivating factor for businesses who want to take sustainable initiatives.
Another issue with setting and fulfilling carbon neutrality-based targets is that at times some people tend to misuse such sustainability projects and extract their benefits from them. An example of such corruption or moral hazard would be when businesses and companies start getting offered financial incentives to limit their unsustainable activities such as excessive cutting of trees, they start viewing it merely as a way of making profits. So instead of supporting the cause with the genuine intention of fulfilling their Corporate Social Responsibility, it further burdens the sustainable organization that had taken the initiative.
Now that some problems have been addressed, we would like to discuss the solution as well and how businesses can make their logistics green and play their role in helping bring about a sustainable revolution.
Data collection is the first and most important step when it comes to figuring out your green logistics. This is something we have been particularly mindful of here at gryn too. We always source our data from reliable sources and based on it, we extract significant information such as those regarding the measurement of greenhouse gasses across different assets, recognizing issue areas, etc. Without gathering data, it is not possible to take action or strategic measures.
Making connections with supply chain partners is an integral part of sustainable logistics and supply chain management. As the challenge of decarbonization continues to grow, the need for intercompany carbon data exchange grows with it. If you take out sometime and research successful sustainability companies you will find out that most of them have multiple partners with whom they collaborate for essential projects. Strong supply chains can be a game changer!
Creating green logistics in your company will be a long-term project, especially if the transition is from a completely conventional and unsustainable place, so the work environment must be based on compliance. All team members must collectively work with dedication to execute ideas that facilitate consistent growth.
Capacity utilization of transport vehicles is key here. This is a very basic level of creating sustainable logistics and can require close monitoring and usage of adaptable algorithms to ensure strict optimization of routes. But this practice alone when adhered to religiously can make a significant difference, especially in terms of the carbon footprint your business leaves behind.
As awareness around sustainability issues continues to grow, stakeholders, especially consumers have started to demand more information regarding business procedures showing an inclination towards traceability and sustainability. Through record keeping, all of these consumer requirements can be mentioned and as a business, it will also help you monitor your performance closely and make amendments when required. At gryn we have also made this easy for other businesses as using our tools they can conveniently share relevant data concerning their carbon emissions and carbon footprint with external parties.
Conclusively, it can be said that green logistics, though still requires further development on the mass level, has the potential of bringing about a sustainable revolution and curb the growing climate uncertainties across the globe. All businesses must join hands and execute ideas effectively to maximize results, something we have been striving to bring to life as well.
At gryn, we are incorporating green practices in our business model through our intelligence platform. We have successfully built a sustainable logistics network that allows for the sharing, calculation, benchmarking, and optimizing of emissions. We also help businesses share their carbon emissions with thousands of customers in no time and play their role in contributing to environmental sustainability.
We send two emails per month - that's it. One is a monthly GRYN update, the other provides tips on how to become sustainable.
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