4 keys to implementing sustainable air cargo initiatives

Sustainable practices are a top goal for many companies in the air cargo industry, yet the path to reach sustainability can be complex and difficult to determine. The first step for any company looking to increase sustainability is to establish a baseline, panelists agreed at the AirCargo Conference in Dallas on March 4. [caption id="attachment_57149279" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Caption: Sustainability experts discuss best methods for companies in the cargo sector to become more sustainable at the AirCargo Conference 2025 in Dallas. (Photo/Cargo Facts)[/caption] 1. Know your footprint “If you don't have your baseline and understand what your carbon footprint is, then you don't have any start in place,” Jason Bailer Losh, director of business development at shipping company Dietl International Services and director of environmental affairs at Global Critical Logistics , said at the conference. “F igure out what your scope 1, 2 and 3 carbon footprint is, and then you can work off that to develop a plan of attack and move forward." 2. Form a task force After research and data collection, a company should form a task force comprising employees from all of its divisions, Sara Graf, shipping company Estes Express Lines’ vice president of sustainability, culture and communications, said. Estes’ sustainability task force includes forty leaders from across the company to increase “ transparency, collaboration and accountability,” Graf said. “You've got a lot of knowledge throughout your organization, so tap into that.” — Sara Graf, vice president of sustainability, culture and communications at Estes Express Lines 3. Create actionable policy It is easy to announce a policy, but that policy must be actionable, effective and realistic, John Bys, executive sales leadership at EcoVadis, said in the session. Paris-based EcoVadis assesses companies’ actions and provides a sustainability rating. Like in golf, sustainability initiatives should be aiming to reach PAR, which in this case stands for “ policies, actions and results,” Bys advised. 4. Look to practical solutions When seeking solutions, companies must be wary of those that sound too good to be true — because they probably are, he said. “One of the biggest issues that we have is ... there's a lot of money to be made right now in sustainability [and] there's a lot of greenwashin g going on,” Losh said. Read more about greenwashing here. New technologies and initiatives should have “practical, real-world solutions” that are demonstrable. Showing that a solution works engenders confidence and excites buy-in from employees and the community, Losh said. Sustainability is “not just a buzzword anymore. You have to get a plan, and you have to have the narrative moving forward that you're serious about this.” — Kendra Tanner, president and CEO at Allstates WorldCargo Overcoming challenges When implementing any new technologies or initiatives, two major struggles are infrastructure and attitude . When it comes to infrastructure, companies must look at their facilities, equipment and processes to determine where changes must be made to accommodate sustainable technologies. For example, not all aircraft can run on sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). In response, Airbus plans to have all its planes capable of using 100% SAF by 2030 , the planemaker previously told Cargo Facts . And for the aviation industry to reach net-zero by 2050, a target set by IATA, between 3,000 and more than 6,500 renewable fuel plants need to be built , IATA said in December. Estes Express Lines is installing solar arrays to tackle the problem of implementing electric vehicles when the electric grid is not capable of supporting them, Graf said. The company aims to have arrays on 90% of its buildings by 2040, she said. “It definitely doesn't cover the entire issue,” Graf said. “And so, we continue to test and try out a lot of different types of equipment solutions.” Getting buy-in The other challenge is buy-in. One way to circumvent that issue is to make sustainability a requirement rather than a choice. “We're not going to give you a non-sustainable option,” Losh said. “The option is a sustainable option, because that's the only thing we have.” Global Critical Logistics had offered offsets in the measurement of carbon footprints and had zero opt-in from clients, Losh said. However, when the company made the initiative opt-out instead of opt-in, very few clients opted out. Register now for Cargo Facts' essential regional events for industry stakeholders: Cargo Facts Asia 2025 on March 24-26 at the W Shanghai in China; and Cargo Facts EMEA 2025 on May 6-8 at the Shangri-La Bosphorus in Turkey.

4 keys to implementing sustainable air cargo initiatives

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