www.viewpoint.net.nz - NZ Transport, Aviation, Logistics & Supply Chain Blog

Climate change cost?

I read this article in the October truck and driver magazine and thought I would post an excerpt here:

The biggest risk to the transport sector arising from climate change won’t be the change itself … but poorly-based Government polices, New Zealand Institute of Economic Research director Brent Layton told the RTF Conference.

“If the policy changes to deal with climate change are well thought through, aimed at minimising greenhouse gas emissions at minimum cost to the economy, applied evenly to different business sectors and are formulated so as to not reduce NZ’s competitiveness compared with other countries, then their impact is likely to be modest – and the impact on the road transport industry likewise. ...

“There are increasing signs that policy advisers seem keener to offer advice that is acceptable to the Government rather than giving the best advice. Finally, there is the strong political interest locally in emission control, so of it manifesting itself as an urge to see NZ leading the charge to save the world.

On the transport-specific front, climate change and environment issues seem to be a magnet for people that feel that cars, and by association trucks, are obviously bad, so that something which is against there use is obviously good.

The worry is that we’ll end up with NZ instituting polices that lead globally, but end up tilting the playing field unevenly. A subsidy for biofuels is example of this type of approach.”

I agree with what Brent is saying. There seems to be this ground swell of opinion that we need to lead the world in being green. But at what cost?

People really don’t want to look at climate change objectively.

“It is the trucks fault and trucking companies need to fix it … dirty smelly trucks” seems to be the feeling and yet the same people demand more and more consumer choice (which means more and more trucks). The same people jump on a 747, which uses 16 tonnes of fuel just to take off (The equivalent of running six cars for a year).

It is convenient to point the finger at just the transport industry. Then it is not my problem.

The solution needs to be found in a holistic approach to the supply chain. Something I fear (know) our government will not do.

 

Being 'Green' can pay dividends

The size and scale of Wal-Mart continues to blow my mind. Check out this news snippet as they seek to cut packaging costs.

Wal-Mart plans to cut packaging 5%. The initiative is projected to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 667,000 tonnes, equal to taking 213,000 trucks off the road annually and save 67m US gallons of diesel. The 5% packaging cuts will also generate US$ 3.4 billion in savings for Wal-Mart.

Think about it, they will take a fleet of trucks larger than size of NZ's entire transport industry off the road. Given however that a huge proportion of these trucks will be in places like China. I am sure they will be deployed somewhere else.

Being green can save significant dollars, particularly if you are the size of Wal-Mart!