Sustainable distribution and transport
Transporting goods can contribute to a large part of the company's total carbon dioxide emissions. In order to minimise this, transport should be by rail as a first choice, and by sea or road as an alternative. Plan your orders and needs so that you can avoid air transport – as that generates the highest level of climate-impacting emissions. Fossil-powered truck transport also has a climate impact.
In order to optimise transport, it’s best for both you and your customers to order complete pallets or containers. Other possibilities for reducing the transport-related emissions of your business include keeping both production and purchasing as local as possible.
Smart measuring devices
Opting for increased digitalisation can also help to reduce climate-impacting emissions and transport costs. Smart, network-connected measuring devices, for instance, to keep track of the business’ systems and products at customers’ premises. For example, signals can be sent when restocking is needed, thus cutting down on transport.
Packaging materials
Reducing and selecting sustainable packaging materials can be significant in reducing the sustainability impact of a business and can increase profitability. All too frequently too much packaging material is used or packaging is too large, which results in an unnecessary impact on sustainability. If you send or receive large quantities of goods from the same customer or supplier, you can also look into the possibility of reusable packaging that is sent back. This reduces waste and the need to produce new packaging.
The Swedish Environmental Protection Agency provides guidance on producer responsibility for packaging.
About responsibility for packaging – Swedish Environmental Protection Agency
Learn more about making your business sustainable
More questions to consider
All the questions from the sustainability pages are collected here.
Questions to consider for developing your sustainability work