Logistics UK: The Route to Net Zero

By Denise Beedell, Public Policy Manager at Logistics UK

The climate crisis is now one of the most pressing challenges facing the global community, and the UK logistics industry understands the part it must play in decarbonising the nation’s economy.

We know our members are taking important steps already to help lower greenhouse gas emissions across their operations, with many investing in lower carbon fuels and technologies, changing their business practices to improve the efficiency of their fleet operations, and providing training to encourage good driver behaviours to lower fuel consumption and emissions. But to achieve net zero by 2050, much more needs to be done across all logistics transport modes and all parts of the supply chain. Logistics UK is committed to working with our members, the government and policymakers to help make this goal a reality.

A key component of this work is Route to Net Zero, a new campaign Logistics UK launched in July 2021 to encourage its members to commit to decarbonising their operations as quickly, effectively and as urgently as possible, to help the UK achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. We know the pathway to net zero will be challenging for many of our members as the technology solutions are still being developed, but we are working to ensure our work in this space is meaningful and can be translated into real action and tangible results.

To help the government and policymakers understand how it can help industry realise the net zero ambition, Logistics UK published its Route to Net Zero Logistics policy briefing paper at the Innovation and Technology in Transport (ITT Hub) event in June 2021, which lays out seven key priorities to decarbonise the industry successfully. This includes providing certainty on commercially viable, zero tailpipe emission technologies for HGVs by the mid-2020s, the rapid development of recharging and refuelling infrastructure for all commercial vehicles, and a fair and equitable approach to funding power upgrades for depots. 

Logistics UK is now developing a comprehensive policy manifesto ahead of COP26 in November 2021; this document will build on the Route to Net Zero Logistics paper and aims to provide more detailed recommendations and steps that are needed to make net zero a reality for logistics as quickly as possible. 

For more information on Logistics UK’s environmental work and details on how you can get involved with Route to Net Zero, please visit logistics.org.uk/environment