The concept of a carbon footprint is a complex calculation that sees what greenhouse gases (GHG) our actions emit, which allows us to study ways to make sustainable transports with lower environmental impact. The concept is based on different international regulations such as PAS 2050:2011 or ISO/TS 14067:2013, but in simple terms: the more gases emitted for a product to get from point A to point B, the greater its carbon footprint.

The environmental impact of shipments

Transportation of a product is usually one of the aspects that most increases its carbon footprint. If you want sustainable shipments, you have to take the different factors that influence the amount of greenhouse gases emitted into account.

Distance

The greater the distance between the origin and the destination, the more fuel will be consumed and therefore more CO2 will be emitted to transport a product. In order to minimize environmental impact, we recommend selecting the means of transport with the least amount of pollution.

Types of transport

Maritime transports and trains pollute much less per ton transported. All types of transport emit carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases (even bicycles emitted GHGs during their manufacture), but energy efficiency can be prioritized and high emissions can be avoided. Remember that no matter how close or far your shipment goes, with our bicimensajeros® service, emissions for your first or last mile are always 0.

Speed

Speed is closely connected to the chosen means of transport. If we want a fast shipment, we will probably end up using air transport, which the most polluting method of them all. Allowing yourself to choose a slower shipment method is a matter of prioritizing less polluting ways of shipping, like maritime transport. Again, in a city setting, the fastest and least contaminated transport method offered is our bicimensajeros service.

Temperature

Shipments that require special temperature conditions pollute more because of refrigeration or heating technology for any type of vehicle. However, temperature control is imperative for goods such as fresh produce, pharmaceuticals or goods sensitive to changes in temperature.

Packaging

Most everybody throws away the box after receiving a package. However, they're more important than you might think if we're talking about sustainability. And not just the boxes: the holding straps of a pallet, the pallet itself or protective plastics also have a lot of impact.

All these elements have been manufactured under conditions that emit greenhouse gases. The less new material or more recycled material a shipment uses, the more sustainable it will be. Remember that before recycling, you have to reuse!

Weight

Esto es un poco tramposo pero la huella de carbono unitaria por producto se divide por cada unidad, con lo que es más sostenible y más económico hacer grandes envíos que te permiten optimizar la huella de carbono unitaria. A nivel particular, puedes encontrar formas de ser más sostenibles con los grupajes.

This is a bit tricky, but the unit carbon footprint per product is divided by each unit, making it more sustainable and cheaper to make large shipments that allow you to optimize the unit carbon footprint. At a particular level, you can find ways to be more sustainable with the groupings.

At LA LUNA shipping® we take all these variables for sustainable transport into account and, for all those customers who request it, we take them as a starting point for our environmental impact studies.

Want to know more? Do you need to plan a shipment and want to reduce your carbon footprint? Don't hesitate: contact us by email or give us a call.