Greenhouse Gases

When President Biden last week announced that the United States is focusing on reducing the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) by 50%-to-52% below 2005 levels by 2030, it garnered a lot of attention, as it should.

A main theme of the paper, entitled “Freight Railroads & Climate Change,” focused on how United States railroads need to be a part of the climate change solution, at a time when Congress works to balance economic recovery from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. “The [AAR] and the rail industry recognize that the climate is changing,” the paper said. “If action is not taken, climate change will have significant repercussions for the planet, our economies, our society, and even day-to-day railroad operations.”

Memphis-based global freight transportation and logistics services provider FedEx announced this week it is making a $2 billion investment in order to have carbon-neutral operations by 2040, which it said will be focused on by initial investments in vehicle electrification, sustainable energy, and carbon sequestration.

As for steps taken on the climate front early into the Biden presidency, things are moving at a rapid clip, with the U.S. having rejoined The Paris Agreement in late January, as well as renewing the nation’s focus on climate change, issuing an executive order focused on addressing the climate crisis at home and abroad.

It goes without saying that President Donald Trump and President-Elect Joe Biden did not see eye-to-eye on pretty much anything while on the campaign trail. Now that the election is (apparently) over, some light is starting to be shed on Biden’s policy initiatives. One part of this that has already received some attention relates to the environment, with Biden indicating that after he is inaugurated in January the United States will rejoin the Paris Agreement, which the U.S....

The clothing retailer has laid out a strong supply chain sustainability strategy that can serve as a blueprint for other shippers to follow.

The United States Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced their jointly finalized standards for medium- and heavy-duty vehicles that will augment fuel efficiency and reduce carbon pollution.

The Paris Agreement climate deal by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which was completed in December, puts a lot on the line in regards to supply chain management and logistics operations, even though those things, as well as specific modes of transport and related emissions reduction mandates or objectives, are not directly cited in the agreement’s language.

A report cited how Henry Paulson, for U.S. Treasury Secretary, Michael Bloomberg, former Mayor of New York, and hedge-fund billionaire Tom Steyer banded together to issue a bipartisan report, entitled “Risky Business” that stresses the point that “climate change could cost the country billions of dollars over the next two decades,” and, as Paulson said in the article, “to depoliticize the climate change debate and instead focus on how it poses an economic threat to U.S. businesses.

Global freight forwarder and logistics services provider Damco said this week it is now providing customers with an online calculation of carbon dioxide emissions, which enables them to track CO2 emissions for all products shipped by ocean and air.