Workshop 3
17-18 April 2008, BerlinThe road ahead: training and awareness-raising that will encourage
the freight transport sector to improve its environmental performance
Politicians and business leaders across Europe are now grappling with the need to take urgent action to combat the causes of climate change. It is known that the freight transport sector contributes significantly to the emission of greenhouse gases but as yet, the sector has not done a great deal to reduce its environmental impact. This is despite the fact that there are many ways that the industry could reduce its carbon footprint as well as improve other aspects of its environmental performance. The issues are complex, in part because of the differing objectives and perspectives of the many participants in today’s global supply chains. Technological solutions exist; the problem is that many of them are not being used. The ETTAR project is looking at the reasons that lie behind this lack of take-up and what can be done by means of training and awareness-raising to address the problem. The ETTAR project workshops bring together experts representing providers and users of freight transport services to discuss the issues and make recommendations for how these needs can best be addressed.
The 3rd workshop will look at the freight industry’s need for training and awareness-raising from environmental, economic and social perspectives, the triple bottom line which is now an accepted approach for organisations to demonstrate that they have strategies for sustainable growth. Emissions monitoring is widely seen as a first step to measure environmental impact from freight transport and participants will discuss ways of doing this, and the extent to which such methods can be applied across the supply chain. On the economic side, the workshop will discuss how the true costs of transport emissions and other external costs can be calculated. The social costs of transport are also considered, including its effects on the urban environment, on congestion and on health.
