KEEP AN EYE OUT FOR GREEN!

Optimism springs eternal among some people — myself included! That said, I am never surprised to hear my otherwise upbeat logistics colleagues express Grinch-like pessimism when it comes to emissions reduction in our industry.

A big reason for this pessimism is because when we experience changes incrementally, we often are unable to recognize the larger trends taking shape. As we say goodbye to 2021, I’d like to leave you with predictions of some quietly developing green trends that we should start noticing in 2022. These trends should give us some hope that an emissions-free logistics world is indeed emerging!

PACKAGING

Expect to see less plastic used — even if the packaging material looks and behaves like plastic, it may be made from starch or other materials that are not derived from fossil fuels. Less plastic should really be the rule and our industry needs to demand non-plastic options as these become more widely available and price competitive.

As consumers become more savvy and demand more eco-friendly options, companies that don’t meet the expectation stand the risk of being called out. Just recently, Unilever was delivered a black eye being named the world’s third largest plastics polluter by volume (only behind Coca-Cola and Pepsi Co.). Though a sponsor of COP26 and known for its efforts to move toward sustainability, Unilever’s plastic garbage level was reported by 11,184 eco-volunteers around the world (https://www.breakfreefromplastic.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/BRAND-AUDIT-REPORT-2021.pdf).

That said, Unilever, in its process of continuous improvement, does have some revolutionary non-plastics packaging available. We can expect to see a change in how liquids, such as laundry detergent and hair care products, sold by Unilever companies are packaged in 2022. As one of the world’s largest food and household product manufacturers, this should influence other companies to follow suit and hopefully provide sustainable packaging suppliers more volume to bring unit costs down. Besides more sustainable materials, expect in 2022 to see more incentives from brands or retailers to encourage consumers to return used packaging for recycling.

TRANSPORTATION

Taxis

Electric vehicles (EVs) are already used as taxis in many large cities in Asia, but expect 2022 to be a year of much market growth. In Singapore, in addition to BYD EVs already on the road, 300 electric MG5s will be added to the fleet of Stride. EVs are attractive to taxi companies because they have the fleet size to support their own charging infrastructure and reap huge savings in operational costs. Imagine not having to pay for another liter of patrol and only pennies for kilowatt hours! Add in growing government incentives and we should see more EV taxi fleets on the road.

Buses

Replacing gas-guzzling, toxic fume-spewing, ear-splitting buses with quiet and clean buses would provide huge benefits to people all over Asia. From Go-Ahead in Singapore to KMB in Hong Kong, bus electrification is expected to pick up speed in metropolitan areas in 2022. Go-Ahead is taking it one step further by putting solar panels on top of buses to augment the power (and reduce carbon emissions) further (https://go-aheadsingapore.com/go-ahead-singapore-launches-proof-of-concept-trials-for-ultra-thin-solar-panel-fitted-buses/).

Garbage Trucks

With long idle times and high fuel consumption to power compactors and other onboard machinery, garbage trucks are obvious candidates for electrification. BYD, Mack, and other manufacturers have pushed electric trucks into many existing fleets and they are already demonstrating savings in total operational costs. More cities in Asia should be experiencing quieter garbage pick-ups by the end of 2022.

Courier Fleets

Post offices have led the way in many Asian countries in terms of switching to EVs that do not produce GHG emissions. Commercial operators like DHL Express are also ramping up electrification. During a recent webinar hosted by the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport Singapore (https://www.cilt.org.sg/copy-of-cilt-resources-1), Hassan Raza Leghari, VP of Ground Operations, DHL Express, told attendees about the company’s growing Asian ground fleets of electric delivery vans, scooters and bikes.

Heavy Trucks

New long-range zero-emission heavy trucks are critical if we’re to have any chance in meeting the 1.5 degree centigrade increase cap needed to mitigate climate change before hitting the point of no return. And I am cautiously optimistic that 2022 might be the year when sustainability planning takes hold among more companies that have fleets of heavy trucks. Traditional truck makers like Volvo, Mercedes, Kenworth, BYD, Peterbilt, and Renault will all be showing off their zero-emission vehicles. Additionally, new entrants like Navistar, Tesla, Thor, and undoubtedly several Chinese manufacturers, will be fighting to become a new leader in the EV heavy truck marketplace.

INFRASTRUCTURE

Charging stations

To support the growing number of EVs hitting the road, a parallel infrastructure expansion is also needed. While companies like Engie and some existing service station operators like BP have begun constructing EV charging units, I think only in 2022 will some of these begin to be visible in Asia Pacific. Some of these electric charging stations may be at company carparks or places you never would have associated with filling your car with petrol.

Solar panels

Warehouses and logistics hubs (like DB Schenker’s “Red Lion” facility in Singapore) provide a perfect space for companies or their landlords to put up some solar panels to save energy costs and cut emissions. 2022 should see more of this infrastructure spending, hopefully to the point where you will notice it more frequently.

Batteries

While I am quite confident of my predictions above, I do have one green “wildcard” wish for 2022! I am hoping for one large battery technology leap to move solid-state batteries into the marketplace commercially. Millions of dollars are now being spent on research to make batteries that are more powerful and more dense than what’s available today. Pair these features with lower costs can propel many logistics companies to fast track their emission-cutting plans while hastening the end of the internal combustion engine. My fingers are crossed for this one.

New year predictions are often forgotten once the holiday celebrations are over, but I’ll be keeping a copy of this article until the end of next year. Let’s see how many of these come true. Until February, Green Corridor wishes you a healthy and green new year!

Packing for the Future!

Have you seen the video of an innovative way to pack a suit in a rolled-up cardboard tube (https://rollor.com/) that’s been circulating among the logistics crowd on LinkedIn? I must admit, new ideas on how to package anything more efficiently (and better yet, sustainably) is like catnip to me, a self-proclaimed tree-hugging logistics nerd. In this particular video, the company offers a seemingly simple but sturdy method to ship a suit jacket wrinkle-free! Unfortunately, while I am impressed with the rolled-up cardboard tube and it is more environmentally friendly than plastic and Styrofoam packages, it likely will still end up in a landfill or incinerator somewhere.

The COVID-19 pandemic expanded the e-commerce and food delivery markets in unprecedented ways and many consumers will likely continue to be loyal e-commerce shoppers even after the pandemic subsides. This may be good news to e-marketplaces and logistics companies that support e-commerce, but the mountains of packaging materials that go with every shipment are wreaking havoc on our planet.

The Singapore National Environment Agency calculated that in 2020, 1.14 million tons of paper and cardboard waste was generated (in a country with a population of 5.45 million). This represented an increase of 13% from 2019 and largely a result of home deliveries. Unfortunately, only 38% of this paper and cardboard waste is recycled. For plastic waste, the level of recycling is even worse at only 4%!

In an ideal world with a fully functioning circular economy, all packaging wastes should be recycled or reused. To achieve this, more investments in recycling processing systems are needed, a fact the government of Singapore is aware of and has made plans for this. But in the mean time, there is a pressing need to make packaging that can be recycled to begin with.

I recently watched a panel discussion on the circular economy featuring speakers representing the private and public sectors in Singapore, as well as experts from high-recycling countries. One concept really hit home for me: the mandate that companies have “extended producer responsibility” for the products they manufacture and the packaging they use. By making manufacturers responsible for the full life cycle of their products, they might be motivated to consider more sustainable material options in their manufacturing.

Another big takeaway from the panel discussion was that, the most successful way to increase the recovery of packaging and products is by incentivizing the consumer to do some of the work. For example, the deposit return principle, which encourages consumers to return packaging to designated collection points for the return of their deposits, has been proven as the best means for companies to retrieve their packaging in one place so they can more systematically collect them for reuse.

Logistically, this will make for opportunities in our sector. Not only will there be the initial delivery, but services to retrieve the products and the packaging will be a value-added offer. I see two ways logistics companies can capitalize on a circular economy:

1. Logistics companies can partner with packaging vendors that use sustainable materials and offer both packaging and logistics services to their clients.

2. Logistics companies can also design and propose a “package recovery” product for their clients. This could be done by the logistics company itself or outsourced to a trusted vendor whose service can then be folded into the package recovery program.

Beyond the trucks, the ships, and all the other hardware, logistics can be seen as a solutions services industry. As cities and communities move toward the circular economic model – it is critical for our industry to consider how we can be part of it to contribute and to benefit from it.

Green Skies?

Airlines Need a Tail Wind to Decarbonize

Recently, I attended a webinar about the ever pressing need to decarbonize the air transport industry – and we need to do so fast! Pierpaolo Cazzola of the International

Transport Forum (ITF), an intergovernmental think tank, was presenting the organization’s recent findings and recommendations in anticipation of upcoming International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) conferences.

In the report “Decarbonizing Air Transport,” findings show a tough road ahead for managers charged with cutting emissions in the airline industry. To set the stage for this challenging task, we need to recognize that, before COVID-19, 2.5% of the world’s emissions were from fuels consumed in air transportation.

These emissions grew even with substantial engine and airplane design advances over the last decades. Increasing market demands simply made air traffic grow at a rate far outp

acing the efficiencies of better designs! The report predicts that this high rate of growth will continue once the pandemic is behind us. So how are we to deal with the dilemma of growth and pollution?

Surprise! It will take private and public sectors working together. What actions are on the horizon? Below are some recommendations put forward by ITF.

COVID-19 recovery plans should be tied to decarbonization requirements

Airlines have been hammered by the pandemic and some have even gone out of busine

ss. In our region alone, several are having serious financial troubles due to the tremendous reduction in passenger travel.

For example, Virgin Australia and Air Mauritius have both applied for voluntary administration. Thai Airways is restructuring through bankruptcy court. Many more have simply lost so much business that it is only through government intervention that they manage to keep the lights on.

Therefore it only makes sense that, as government monies continue to pour into airlines, there should be decarbonization requirements linked to the investments. For example, airlines must establish clear long-term visions to set, monitor, and reduce emis

sions and these targets should be aligned with the Paris Climate Agreement. Airlines like to think eliminating carbon does not apply to them, and this requirement should change that attitude.

Establish fuel quality standards to encourage SAF use

Governments should also require timely and ambitious fuel quality standards be put in place to encourage the use of sustainable aviation fuels. This is a relatively easy requ

irement to set as it can be easily audited.

Establishing international targets to create an even playing field

A

ccording to ITF, flights over 8,000 kilometers, many of which are international flights, account for 20% of all emissions. Unfortunately, international flights are seldom regulated for their fuel efficiencies and emissions because governing bodies tend to regulate only flights that traverse within their borders. As an international body, ICAO can help governments establish international fuel efficiency and emission targets. Not only will this create an even international playing field, it will also require international flights to adhere to the same requirements as domestic flights.

Government support for R&D is key

Finally, researchers, as well as others in the industry, recognize that increased use of SAF, carbon taxing, and better fuel efficiency will not ultimately clean up all the carbon. This is why governm

ent support for R&D in carbon-free aircraft or more scalable SAF alternatives are the only sure way to get CO2 out of air transport by 2050.

Innovation on that level is not impossible – humanity has done it before. For the air transport industry, it may be the most important initiative of all, because if it cannot compete with other transportation modes in emissions reduction, it may simply lose its business – one customer at a time.