How we're making logistics more sustainable

When my co-founder, Nick Bartlett, and I decided to found CBIP, we were guided by a couple of key questions: 

1. How can we make a difference in logistics?
2. How can we build a company that lasts?

Leaving a company that our children would be proud to take over means worrying about more than just financials and margins. It means creating business models that improve our world. For us, that meant a commitment to sustainability in our private lives as well as in how we conduct our business.

We’re proud to say that we're on the road to becoming a carbon-neutral logistics provider — but it won't happen overnight. We want to share our story about how we plan to get there.

Logistics has had little reason to change

For all logistics businesses, adopting new eco-friendly technologies is no small task. There are few industries that cause more pollution. Large amounts of fuel are needed to power the ships, trucks, and airplanes moving goods around the world every minute of the day. Millions of boxes are wrapped, unwrapped, and discarded every day too. 

Most companies turn a blind eye to their emissions as it can be difficult to manage at every step of the supply chain while remaining profitable — and most customers pick providers for their speed, not their cleanliness. But we couldn’t just accept “too difficult” as an excuse. We decided to take action.

Our roadmap for greener logistics

To push sustainability forward, we look to the UN’s 17 goals for sustainable development defined in its 2030 plan. 

These goals outline a pathway that “emphasizes peace and prosperity for the planet which…works to preserve the planet’s natural environment and mitigate climate change.”

Of the 17, we think these two are among the most important for CBIP:

1. Goal 13: Climate Change - Taking urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts.
2. Goal 12: Responsible Consumption & Production - Ensuring sustainable production and consumption patterns.

To accomplish these goals we are focusing on investing in green, sustainable, and socially beneficial projects in the regions where we create carbon emissions. In order to get to that greener future in logistics, we educate and encourage our partners to do their part in the following ways:

• We make sure our team is aware of their individual impacts on the environment and we encourage and enable them to do their part. That’s everything from considering transportation to and from the office to replacing plastic with reusable cups, 
• We extend expectations surrounding green practices and carbon offset goals towards all potential employees and prospective clients.
• We ask our suppliers to submit carbon emissions reports to us each month, and we survey them to find out what improvements they may implement to lower their emissions.

We believe that the best way to reach our goals is to be on the same page as all of the people we work with–and we hold to that.

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Funding local conservation

We realized we needed to focus our efforts to offset emissions not just in our providers but in the regions we operate in too. That is why we are partnering with South Pole, an organization that gives companies the option to choose their own climate action projects all over the world. From re-forestation to community engagement, we're excited to work toward impacting the regions where we're directly involved.

While it’s a tough battle to fight, Nick and I hope to we’ll have made a positive difference in the logistics industry when we retire. We need clear skies and oceans to make sure goods keep moving for generations to come.