To get on a path toward comprehensive CO2 reduction, companies are putting everything under the microscope: their energy and raw material supplies, their processes, and their suppliers. They’re looking not only at their own plant sites and processes, but also at all service providers along their supply chains. The key question is: Where can I become greener, where can my suppliers and service providers become greener—and how do we remain competitive as an economy in the process?

How do we go green?

Climate goals are political. But it’s up to industry itself to determine the best way to achieve these goals. That’s the only way innovation happens, and the only way to find the most efficient solutions. How to go green is a question that companies, above all, must answer. But for progress to happen, the right framework conditions must be in place—and those, in turn, are set by policymakers.

Industry needs green logistics—and industry is the one making green logistics happen.

In freight transport, industry is the customer—that is, the client commissioning transport services. Efficient logistics processes across all modes of transport are a key location factor for every company. Germany is the world champion of logistics, and that’s good for the entire economy. At the same time, however, industry is much more than just a user of freight transport: it is a manufacturer of vehicles—from carbon-neutral trucks and efficient rail vehicles to aircraft and ships with new propulsion systems—and on the horizon we can see the hyperloop. And the industry is even more than that: it is a manufacturer of sustainable transportation infrastructure, alternative propulsion systems, and green fuels, as well as green power technology—from wind turbines and hydrogen electrolysers to charging stations and batteries.

Responsibility, technology, innovation—and the ambition to keep making things better

The industry is well-positioned for green logistics. It is both a consumer and a provider of solutions. The trend is inexorably moving toward accounting for CO₂ reductions down to the very last link in the chain and gradually unlocking climate potential wherever it makes sense and is effective. Through innovative technology and efficient, digital processes, we use fewer resources and reduce emissions. The BDI Climate Pathways Study shows us that the shift to low-emission modes of transportation, powertrains, and fuels is the most important lever for advancing climate protection in the transportation sector and logistics.