Run by the European Shippers’ Council and Dutch Shippers Council (EVO), GFE aims to create strong market incentives to engage companies across the supply chains in green procurement of transportation services in order to make long term environmental improvements.
Its independent and voluntary programme has been based on the successful US SmartWay Partnership run by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The programme aims to reduce carbon emissions by establishing a platform for monitoring and reporting of CO2, promoting collaboration between carriers and shippers in driving improvements and establishing a certification system to reward shippers and carriers who participate in the programme.
GFE says that representatives of the European Parliament and the European Commission recently welcomed the industry driven approach to set up a pan-European standard for measuring CO2 footprint in the logistics chain.
The organisation says its challenge is to encourage smaller companies to participate in the initiative and it’s calling on the larger shippers and logistic service providers already involved to help smaller companies to take part.
Established in March 2012, GFE recently held its first open day to give members, which include manufacturers, logistics service providers (LSPs) and road freight operators, the chance to exchange knowledge, discuss best practices on how to reduce CO2 emissions and expand their European business network.