As consumers become increasingly environmentally selective, companies are recognizing that they need to optimize their supply chains, not only in terms of the traditional levers of cost and service level, but also in terms of carbon emissions.

The supply chain is an important area where companies can reduce their carbon footprint, but the bottom line is that over 80% of this target is only achievable at the supply chain design stage.

Toplogic has worked with a number of companies on projects designed to analyze and reduce carbon emissions.

Our CAST-CO2 software can calculate the carbon footprint of any supply chain and provide the optimal network configuration based on cost, service and/or carbon emissions.

Benefits

Companies are able to analyze the carbon footprint of their supply chains and then consider different design configurations and transportation options before making operational changes. For example, a business running its own dedicated distribution fleet could evaluate the cost & carbon impact of switching to alternative fuel sources.

Alternatively, a company might review opportunities for consolidation of freight across the network, thereby reducing the number of deliveries as well as the resulting carbon footprint and operating costs.

By optimizing the carbon footprint of any supply chain together with cost and service levels, companies normally find ways to reduce costs and carbon emissions at the same time. In a recent example, a global industrial manufacturer modeled their European distribution network and identified savings of 9% in supply chain costs with a 28% reduction in carbon emissions by switching significant road freight volumes on to rail and short-sea shipping options across Europe.