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Freight environmental impact

Charles Dubouix

Freight environmental impact

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KEY TAKEAWAYS

Freight transport is responsible for 7% of global CO2 emissions and over 30% of all transport CO2 emissions. They are expected to increase sharply by 2050, even with an ambitious policy agenda.
Different transport modes have different carbon intensity ranges, with air freight emitting at least 50 times more CO2e than maritime freight.

The carbon footprint from moving goods is almost as important as that from moving people.

Freight transport receives less attention from policymakers than it deserves, given its cross-border complexities and commercial nature. Policy ambition has been relatively low compared to passenger transport, even though freight is responsible for more than 30% of all transport CO2 emissions. Freight transport demand is projected to more than double in the next three decades, even with an ambitious policy agenda. Bold and fast action is crucial to decarbonize the sector.

The big picture

Globally, transport - freight and people combined - accounts for 24% of global CO2 emissions in 2018. And, according to the OECD in 2015, international freight accounts for 7% of global CO2 emissions.

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This figure may vary between sources: between 7 and 12%. According to France Stratégie in 2010, freight transport accounts for around 10% of global CO2 emissions.

What if we break emissions down by transport mode?

🚢 Maritime freight emissions

The majority of freight transport is carried out by sea, with maritime freight representing more than 70% of freight traffic (in t.km) and around 37% of the related CO2 emissions.

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The transportation of fossil fuels accounts for 30% of the world's total freight transportation in t.km. However, since it is primarily done by sea freight, its pollution impact is relatively low.

🚚 Road freight emissions

According to the ITF (2021), even though road freight only represents 18% of total freight transport, it is responsible for 53% of CO2 emissions in the sector, making it the most polluting mode of transportation. You can find more information about this in the following source: ITF, 2021

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For example, urban deliveries account for 30% of all freight-related emissions, which is almost as much as maritime transport. The difference is that they account for only 3% of global freight activity (in t.km), compared to 70% for the latter (Source: OECD, 2017).

✈️ Air freight emissions

Regarding air freight transport, it is responsible for 7% of global freight emissions but only represents less than 1% of total freight transport. Estimating this impact is challenging, as air freight can be mixed (goods are transported on passenger flights) or dedicated (cargo planes).

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The majority of aviation emissions come from passenger transport, with freight-related aviation comprising only around 11% of total air transport emissions in 2017 (source: GLEC, 2019).

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🔎 Going further: the radiative impact of aviation is very likely to be underestimated by a factor 2 or 3

Why such a difference between shares in activity and carbon impact?

Each transport mode has a specific carbon intensity range:

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Emissions intensity, or carbon intensity, is a key performance indicator (KPI) that measures the amount of GHG emissions per unit of business activity. In the freight industry, it's generally calculated by dividing a company's overall emissions by the volume of goods transported and the distance they are moved. t.km is a unit to measure the freight activity: transporting one ton over one kilometre makes 1 t.km

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On average air freight emits 50 times more CO2e than maritime freight to transport one ton of goods over one km.

Freight demand is expected to increase… and so are emissions

According to the OECD, demand is expected to increase sharply (multiplied by more than two by 2050). Indeed, as the COVID-19 epidemic has shown, freight is essential for the health of our economy and will continue to be important in the future.

As a consequence, with current policies by 2050, freight emissions are expected to increase by +22% compared to 2015.

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Different Scenarios Envisaged by the OECD in Its Transport Outlook 2021 Report

Why is the situation urgent?

To meet the objectives of the Paris Agreement, CO2 emissions from freight will have to decrease by 64% by 2050 (again according to the OECD and compared to 2015 levels).

However, many shippers are lagging behind. According to studies, more than 60% of them have not yet committed to reducing their emissions.

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🎉 Well done! You’ve completed the third session of the freight decarbonation academy on Freight environmental impact! 🗺️ Go back to the Academy 💪 Keep on learning, with the next session : measuring freight emissions