Getting a Better Handle on Transportation Emissions

A friend forwarded some nice work from CHRobinson the other day. They’ve introduced a tool to track transport emissions across multiple modes, free to customers, called Emissions IQ. Excellent!

See it here on Supply Chain Dive.

What seems particularly cool is that this is more than an emissions tracker, it also suggests solutions for emissions reductions, including some of my favorites: converting to intermodal, and optimizing LTL. I have spent a good part of the last 15 years advocating for more rail transport to get trucks off the highways, reduce emissions, and reduce shipper expenses. Our rail network is a hidden gem and our country and planet would be better off if used more aggressively.

It’s also notable that CHR worked with MIT and SmartWay to develop a standardized approach for measuring LTL emissions. This is new to me, and greatly needed.

Transportation emissions are one of the biggest hurdles out there, reported in this article as responsible for ~20% of global emissions. The secret to finding a better way starts by getting control of the data. Nice work CHR. Thank you.