News / Forwarders say policy not consumers will determine green transition

Photo: © Shahid Mentor, Dreamstime.com

Purchasing patterns indicate that governments cannot rely on consumers to shift the scales in the green transition; the rapid surge in ecommerce demand indicates that legislative changes are essential for cleaner supply chains.

Economic uncertainty fostered by Covid and wars in Europe and the Middle East, as well as the climate sceptical approach that has been adopted in the US since the return of Donald Trump to the White House, have all helped undermine efforts towards green supply chains.

One forwarder told The Loadstar: “Conversations around sustainability have changed over the past year, with rising operating costs, economic uncertainty, and geopolitical pressures among the key issues affecting forwarders’ behaviour.

“These factors have understandably shifted priorities back towards resilience, cost control, and supply chain continuity. Sustainability is perhaps no longer dominating headlines in quite the same way, but it certainly doesn’t mean it has disappeared from boardroom discussions.”

With businesses struggling to contend with these issues, there was hope government policy and funding support could aid the transition to continue at a pace.

Instead, those The Loadstar spoke to have expressed frustration about not only the lack of financial support being offered by governments across Europe and North America, but what they claimed to have been inconsistent and unclear policy positions.

Anne Shudy Palmer, Green Worldwide Shipping’s director of sustainability, told The Loadstar: “Between increasing extreme weather events, geopolitical instability, and regulatory volatility, SME forwarders are coming to terms with ‘uncertainty’ as the new normal.”

Some forwarders, including Green Worldwide, have turned to nongovernmental organisations like Smart Freight Centre to coordinate zero-emission transport projects, find sustainability-focused partners and customers, and promote favourable policy and voluntary guidelines.

But others are not, hanging their hopes on the prospect that consumers may stump up the additional costs required to run greener supply chains – a hope the director general of Clecat, Nicolette van der Jagt, described as “misguided”.

“Consumer behaviour is not compensating for weaker political pressure. In fact, consumption patterns, particularly the rapid growth of ecommerce, continue to drive transport demand,” Ms van der Jagt told The Loadstar.

She added that while consumers may express a preference for sustainable products and delivery options, it was clear from the data that purchasing decisions were still largely being driven by price, convenience, and speed.

There was consensus the logistics sector was prepared to the make necessary investments to green supply chains, she said, but this would require not only certainty from present governments, but from any possible future governments, of legislative consistency.