The Paris Agreement aims to put a stop to global warming, and cut the emissions of greenhouse gases worldwide, starting in 2020.
There are many challenges, and the pact will have a progressive, massive and transversal impact on the forwarding sector, since it will undergo profound changes globally, including the energy sources it uses, the materials, the equipment, as well as the way all of this will be operated, managed and made available.
The Minister of Environment, Matos Fernandes, who represented Portugal at the signing ceremony of the agreement at the historic Climate Summit, confirms and indicates the direction of the transportation sector in the coming decades in Portugal: ‘… everything points towards the fact that Portugal will honor the commitment it made, and stop with the use of fossil fuels by 2050'.
The signed agreement is legally binding, and the signatory countries committed to significantly reducing the use of fossil fuel, and switching to environment-friendly fuels, sustained by renewable energy. Therefore, we will witness profound changes in the upcoming decades, which will necessitate the evolution of business models, the organizational restructuration of companies, and the adaptation of new systems and new ways to create services. The additional difficulty being: finding the necessary balance in international logistics that helps achieve higher productivity, and ensure better circumstances for the creation of wealth, employment and well-being.
According to data presented at the COP21, the transportation sector is responsible for 14% of total global greenhouse gas emissions, since fossil fuels (petrol and diesel), used by road, rail, air and sea transportation, are responsible for 95% of pollution. Although this sector is not the one contributing mostly to greenhouse gas emissions, the transportation industry is considered the ‘bad guy’, because it uses the energy source directly. Thus, the transporters will face great challenges until 2030 to reduce carbon emissions, including the introduction and adaptation of more sustainable vehicles and making the necessary changes on the level of transport organization.
The Portuguese secretary general of the International Transport Forum (ITF), José Manuel Viegas says ‘… by 2050 it will be a possibility to have a road fleet that consumes 50% less fuel than it did in 2010’.
Get to know 5 Trends in the Freight Forwarding Industry:
Superior Technician of Hygiene and Safety at Work and Auditor-Coordinator of the ISO 9000 Quality Management Systems. Since 2014 she has been collaborating with Multicargo Lda. as an External Quality Consultant, whilst supporting the company in the implementation of the Quality and Safety Action Programs, and verifying the compliance of the company’s Management Systems. More recently she has dedicated herself to the project of obtaining the certification of Authorised Economic Operator (AEO).
