Logistics Sector Embracing Sustainability for India's Economic Development

Sustainability is the need of the hour. The sheer size of the logistics sector and its scope in India demands that it becomes sustainable to reduce emissions considerably.

Climate change is wreaking havoc globally. Countless vehicles, ships, transportation, airplanes, trucks, two-wheelers, automobiles, and farms are the primary reason for accelerated emissions. To curb the sudden climate change, the Environmental Social and Governance (ESG) has established stringent goals for organizations across the globe to follow. Aligned with these goals, organizations are taking steps to reduce emission production and become more sustainable with time. Hence, the logistics industry, responsible for generating 8% of greenhouse gases, has taken steps to lower its emissions.

How’s Indian Logistics Companies Moving Towards Sustainability

The logistics supply chain includes two facets, The physical supply chain and the digital supply chain. While the former entails cargo storage and transportation, the latter pertains to the movement of documents from digital roots to digital platforms, primarily, for teaching, booking, permits, and monitoring.

Other than improving efficiency, one of the major reasons for switching to digital technologies in the supply chain process is that such tools generate vast amounts of data required to calculate sustainability metrics. This metric aids in measuring the impact on sustainability. The perks of a better logistics network percolate across the economy. If the logistics network becomes more efficient with time, it will reduce the carbon footprint and the overall transportation price. This is why the Indian Government has set its sights on making its logistics sector more efficient and sustainable.

The Indian Government is expecting to lower the logistics sector’s share from 14% to 9% by the end of 2024 the aim of which is to make the industry more sustainable and cost-effective.

Sustainability in Logistics: Challenges and Solutions

Challenges

India is facing a plethora of challenges to make its logistics industry more sustainable. From the physical supply chain perspective - Even though sources like biofuels, renewable energy, and electric vehicles are becoming mainstream globally, countries like India still depend on Petroleum for the transportation sector. The country faces the challenge of developing the infrastructure to handle sustainable logistics. Not to mention, the cost of leveraging biofuels is much higher than utilizing fossil fuels.

Coming to the Digital supply chain perspective - the Indian Logistics sector lacks the database to map moved goods, hindering the creation of data-based policies and data-driven decisions. Moreover, the existing digital solutions are yet to render end-to-end visibility of moved goods.

These challenges limit the turnaround time of processes, making it more difficult for the logistics team to fulfill their projects on time.

Solutions

The Government has initiated digital solutions to remedy the challenges. One of the major digital solutions introduced is ICEGATE and E-logs which not only increases efficiency but also helps increase transparency and speed at which the goods are delivered to the destination.

Moreover, green and reverse logistics, return management apps and automated inventory solutions are some of the solutions for waste management. Logistics companies in Mumbai are now aligning themselves with global and domestic sustainability practices. In a survey by the Global Business Applications Firm (CGS), consumers globally prefer sustainability over expedited shipping. Consumers today are well-versed with the significance of sustainability and 42% of young consumers support it. Considering the new trend of sustainability, Indian logistics companies are adhering to global benchmarks for sustainability including the Energy Efficiency Existing Ship Index, the Carbon Intensity Rating, and the Emissions Trading System.