A Model for Integrating Environmental Aspects into Transport Purchasing

In logistics, transport purchasers are increasingly facing environmental challenges. The role of logistics managers is important because their decisions as to how and where resources are used can potentially have major impacts on the environment. The challenge for logistics managers is to determine how to incorporate environmental management principles into their daily decision-making processes. 1 Transports contribute to environmental impacts, such as global warming, energy consumption, emissions, noise, land use, traffic accidents, etc.2 Furthermore, the transport sector is regarded as the fastest growing sector relevant to the environment in the European Union.3 At present, common methods for addressing the environmental aspects of transports are the use of average values or carrying out proposed measures (fixed solutions). There are a growing number of databases providing information on average values. In Sweden, such databases are provided by, e.g., SJ (Swedish state railways), BTL (a major road haulier), Svenska åkeriförbundet (The Swedish Road Haulage Association), VTI (Swedish Road and Transport Research Institute) and NTM (the Network for Transport and Environment). Average values are normally expressed as emissions and energy consumption per tonkm. A key characteristic is that the average values do not specifically represent the transport relation under evaluation. The method also has other flaws. This paper proposes a method for how to account for environmental aspects into transport purchasing.