Green Freight Europe well received by industry and European Commission

In the presence of some two hundred attendees, including leading figures from industry, European institutions and governments, GREEN FREIGHT EUROPE (GFE) was officially launched in the Stanhope Hotel in Brussels last Tuesday. GFE aims to become the leading independent voluntary programme for reducing carbon emissions of road freight in Europe. The large turnout demonstrates that sustainable transportation is an important issue for European companies. Vice President of the European Commission and Commissioner for Transport Siim Kallas expressed his support for the initiative. According to Vice President Kallas industry and government have to work together in order to pave the road towards sustainable transport in Europe. In his address he stated that the GFE initiative is an excellent way to achieve this. 
 
Future of transport
In his speech Kallas expressed his appreciation for Green Freight Europe, which establishes a benchmarking tool to measure CO2 emissions from road freight and a wider programme of developments to reduce CO2 emissions: "The initiative is in line with my own vision of where transport could, and should, be heading in the decades to come. Since it is one of the Commission’s top priorities to prepare Europe’s transport sector for several major challenges such as climate change, mounting congestion, our overdependence on oil, we need to ensure that it stays competitive, driving economic growth and creating employment." Furthermore, he stressed the importance of collaboration between government and industry: "To share ideas on tackling emissions, new technologies and best practices can only be to Europe’s common good, helping us collectively to meet our targets on reducing greenhouse gas emissions by at least 80% by 2050. For that, transport will have to make deep cuts in its own emissions. Initiatives such as Green Freight Europe, will complement the other work already underway, which includes initiatives for the entire logistics chain, transport services and freight."
 
Also taking part in the launch were senior executives from Dow, Deutsche Post DHL, P&G, GeoPost, TNT Express, Wim Bosman and HEINEKEN. Jeroen Eijsink, CEO DHL Freight Belgium, Netherlands & UK, motivated that DHL is joining GFE because: "With GFE we can look further than just ourselves. Jointly we are able to exchange expertise and will be able to improve our environmental impact." Didier Delmotte, Director PS Operations for Western Europe at Procter & Gamble, added: "We are very much committed to sustainability and our efforts already show good results." Laurens van de Rotte, Director Global Logistics Development at HEINEKEN, emphasized the importance of joining the Green Freight Europe initiative: "We have been actively involved in Green Freight Europe since 2010 and it is one of the key initiatives of our Brewing a Better Future sustainability platform. Green Freight Europe will be instrumental in making the difference in the European transportation industry and I urge everyone to join now, be part of the conversation and accelerate the sustainability progress. Don’t wait until your customers, suppliers, employees or even your children ask you why you are not part of driving a sustainable future in our industry." John Acton, Vice President at GeoPost, added: "What you can measure, you can manage and GFE is a good way to measure more accurately."

Source: GreenFreightEurope