About The Project
Welcome to the Green Logistics Website
Over the four-year programme we will identify and evaluate a range of measures and technologies with the assistance of a group of partner companies which are heavily involved in various aspects of logistics. The project will also be supported by the Department for Transport and Transport for London.
Logistics involves the movement, storage and handling of products as they travel from farms, factories and ports to the shops. These activities are essential in economic terms, but can have a damaging effect on the environment.
Freight transport in particular is a significant source of air pollution, carbon dioxide emissions, accidents, noise and vibration.
This research programme will examine a range of ways of reducing its environmental impact, many of which will also cut the cost of distribution. It will begin by reviewing previous research on this subject in the UK and other countries. It will also try to forecast how much worse the environmental effects of logistics will become if nothing new is done to address the problem. The main part of the project will comprise a series of separate, but inter-linked, modules focusing on measures that companies can adopt to make their logistical operations more 'green'.
Objectives
| 1) | Integrate initiatives and research techniques that have contributed to improving distribution sustainability but are currently applied in a fragmented way |
| 2) | Establish baseline trends in the key freight transport parameters to determine how the environmental impact of distribution will worsen in the absence of new initiatives |
| 3) | Identify and prioritise sustainable distribution measures in terms of their potential economic and environmental contribution in different industrial sectors |
| 4) | Review methodologies currently employed in sustainable distribution studies and improve the analytical 'toolkit' available |
| 5) | Find ways to engage industry and policy makers in a coordinated approach to enhancing sustainable distribution |
| 6) | Develop an analytical approach suite to help managers and policy makers assess the effects of their decisions on the sustainability of distribution operations |
The Project
The Green Logistics Research Project is funded by the Engineering and Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC).
It is divided into twelve work modules and began in June 2006 and will run until June 2010. It will also be supported by the Department for Transport and Transport for London.