BIFA Press Release | In their recently published 2024 State of Sustainability in Freight Forwarding Report, BIFA and Pledge, the leading multimodal emissions reporting software, explored freight forwarders’ current sustainability practices, plans, motivations, and constraints.
The initial survey was sent out to all BIFA members. After collecting demographic data such as company size, annual revenue, operating region and mode of transport supported, freight forwarders who took part in the survey were asked about their sustainability practices, the importance of carbon reporting, and how likely they are to implement carbon reporting software in the future.
A significant finding was that despite a growing acceptance of the importance of sustainability initiatives among British freight forwarders, more than half insist that other business-critical issues are taking precedence right now, particularly for smaller forwarders.
However, a significant portion of forwarders still plan to offer sustainability services within the next 12 months.
Steve Parker, BIFA Director General, said: “Environmental and sustainability issues are not new and over time, the environmental agenda within freight and logistics has developed.
“For many years BIFA has been monitoring the legislation, tracking any new regulations, and delivering advice to its corporate members on environmental and sustainability issues.
“Last year, BIFA established a policy group to help identify and report to the Association and its Members on environmental-related issues which may in the future have an impact upon their businesses, or in fact are already doing so. The results of the first sustainability survey that we have undertaken of BIFA corporate members will help to shape the work of that policy group.”
The survey also found that more than half of respondents have some kind of sustainability policy, and nearly two-thirds say they have customers currently asking for carbon emissions reporting on their shipments.
A key theme was that company size plays a significant role in how much sustainability is prioritised at freight forwarding companies, with the majority of enterprise (1000+ employees) and large (250-1000 employees) forwarders generally considering sustainability important and a minority considering it a mid-level priority.
Among small forwarders (10-50 employees), sustainability is much more likely to be considered a low priority, with more than half of very small forwarders (1-10 employees) considering it low priority or not a priority at all.
“The breakdown by company size suggests there’s a drastic drop off in prioritisation once company size dips below the 50-employee mark,” said David de Picciotto, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Co-Founder, Pledge.
“While this prioritisation gap isn’t surprising given the difference in availability of resources between large and small businesses, an even and inclusive transition to sustainability within transport and logistics is crucial if this high-polluting sector is to decarbonise effectively.
“It’s therefore crucial that innovations in technology that lower barriers to implementation for small and medium businesses and initiatives that raise awareness and provide access to long-term benefits of sustainability for forwarders are prioritised.”
The findings in this report complement the outcomes of the roundtable event Pledge co-hosted with the Smart Freight Centre at COP28 which encouraged wider adoption of sustainable practices via building robust business cases backed by incentives and wider support for the industry.
The full findings of the report will be explored in a webinar hosted by BIFA and Pledge on July 4th, 2024. Sign up here
Media enquiries should be directed to:
Ian Matheson, Impress Communications
Tel: +44 (0) 7894 406762
e-mail: info@impresscommunications.org
