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Caroline Kaufman and Francys Veras are Worldwide Commerce Specialists within the Workplace of Provide Chain, Skilled & Enterprise Companies.
The Covid-19 pandemic uncovered the vulnerabilities of worldwide provide chains, making them a family matter for on a regular basis People. Throughout the nation, People have skilled shortages of important merchandise, equivalent to bathroom paper, disinfecting wipes, and bottled water, in addition to lengthy delays to obtain merchandise starting from family furnishings to train bikes. As photographs of empty retailer cabinets and backlogged cargo ships in ports turned commonplace, so did the decision for stronger, extra resilient U.S. provide chains.
For U.S. provide chains to be robust and resilient, they have to even be sustainable. Every course of within the provide chain, from procurement of sustainable uncooked supplies to low-emission supply of the product, will be assessed to mitigate its environmental impacts. Sustainable provide chains not solely defend world worth chains in intervals of disaster like a pandemic, however they will additionally enhance total productiveness and assist companies cut back waste. In addressing the local weather disaster, stakeholders throughout the provision chain should acknowledge that dependence on fossil fuels for almost all of provide chain exercise shouldn’t be a long-term answer.
In 2020, the U.S. transportation sector accounted for the most important portion (27 p.c) of whole U.S. greenhouse fuel (GHG) emissions. Freight transportation accounted for over one third of these emissions. With transportation providers liable for the motion of worldwide commerce, these provide chain providers industries are more and more important to addressing not solely the provision chain disaster, but in addition the local weather disaster.
Transferring the Needle Ahead: Public and Personal Sector Should Work Collectively
The Biden-Harris Administration has prioritized strengthening U.S. provide chains, in addition to creating sustainable U.S. provide chains. In November 2021, Congress handed the Biden-Harris Administration’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Legislation, or the Infrastructure Investments and Jobs Act (IIJA), which invests $17 billion in modernizing infrastructure at coastal ports, inland ports, waterways, and land ports of entry.
The Administration has additionally labored intently with the personal sector to set bold targets throughout the freight logistics industries, for instance by asserting the Sustainable Aviation Gas (SAF) Grand Problem in September 2021. The SAF Grand Problem seeks to encourage the home manufacturing of a minimum of three billion gallons per yr of SAF by 2030 and 35 billion gallons of SAF by 2050, sufficient to provide one hundred pc of projected U.S. aviation gas demand in 2050.
Whereas authorities initiatives are a part of the answer, provide chain sustainability initiatives should even be led by the personal sector. Throughout the totally different freight transportation industries – together with aviation, maritime, rail and truck – U.S. companies have dedicated to creating each a extra resilient and extra sustainable home provide chain.
ITA’s Provide Chain Sustainability Efforts and New Report
To assist establish the place alternatives and challenges exist for U.S. provide chain companies, ITA’s Workplace of Provide Chain, Skilled and Enterprise Companies (OSCPBS) works to deal with coverage and regulatory points to make sure that the U.S. provide chain system will likely be among the many world’s greenest and most sustainable in facilitating the motion of products throughout the nation and overseas. We establish the newest U.S. trade developments in provide chain sustainability. Utilizing that info, we assist trade in decreasing their carbon footprint and work to reinforce the competitiveness of sustainable U.S. transportation and logistics providers.
ITA’s OSCPBS lately revealed a Provide Chain Sustainability Report that examines associated key traits, private and non-private sector initiatives for a extra sustainable future throughout the most important modes of freight transportation, and describes how the Biden-Harris Administration and trade have labored collectively to set bold targets to scale back emissions, an necessary groundwork for progress. It notes that gas applied sciences are a key space for analysis and funding for U.S. freight corporations, and it presents examples of ongoing developments. It additionally notes that whereas the personal sector has been more and more innovating to deal with local weather change, there continues to be an excellent want for robust regulatory and market incentives to speed up decarbonization within the freight sector.
Try ITA’s Provide Chain Sustainability Report to study extra.
