Sustainability and the Last Mile
Last mile delivery is a particularly important part of the delivery chain within urban centres like London, Paris and Madrid — however, these are quickly changing and adapting to the challenges of the 21st century. Restrictions on traffic, lower emission goals, an increase in green space: these are only a few of the changes that will shape the cityscape, and the last mile industry, over the coming years.
Growing Focus on Sustainability
As a consequence, it’s not just efficiency and speed that’s needed from your regular courier service. Increased focus on sustainability in urban centres is leading to greater emphasis on cutting levels of pollution and ensuring a greener environment for all residents and visitors.
The introduction of the Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) in London from 2019, will make it important for all motorised vehicles to meet the new, more stringent emissions standards. This means choosing courier services that offer sustainable transport solutions will be even more popular with business consumers. And, doubtless, where London takes the lead, other UK cities are likely to follow.
Consumers also play a part in pushing for positive changes to be made. It is becoming more and more important for brands to align with their consumers’ values — and prove that they’re faithful to them. Sustainability and friendliness are high on the list for many people.
Greener City Environments
Pollution is an ever-increasing health threat to city dwellers throughout the world, and governments are looking to enact policies that will minimise damage. On 30 January 2018, south London reached its annual legal pollution limit less than a month into the year.
As a consequence, local governments are looking to push more green initiatives than ever before. One of the UK government’s key actions for making the city environment greener is the Urban Tree Challenge. The challenge aims to establish one million trees in urban locations to help ensure the greening of UK cities, both for now and into the future. Combined with increased use of green vehicles by company fleets, courier businesses and consumers, it’s hoped there will soon be significant improvements to pollution levels in the UK’s towns and cities.
Growth of Smart City technologies
The nationwide growth of the Smart City makes it important for any reliable last mile delivery specialist to offer a green fleet, with green solutions. By taking advantage of cutting-edge technology and smarter ways of routing couriers in urban centres, providing a sustainable transportation solution is of paramount importance.
What’s more, as environmental concerns become even more apparent globally, last mile logistics providers will need to adopt the cleanest, greenest fleets in order to survive in a competitive marketplace.
Focusing on tech and efficiencies means couriers need to look at fleets of hybrid and electric vehicles to provide the sustainable delivery solutions demanded by ecologically-savvy business customers and consumers. Combining this online and mobile efficiency with a green fleet is the best solution for all. Moreover, it offers clients a flexible delivery solution that meets their needs and also matches company values on sustainability.
Our best-in-class technology courier service offers retailers superb delivery solutions, from ship-from-store to hub-to-home, and we’re currently operating at a sustainability level of 60% on all our last mile deliveries, while still maintaining our guarantee of a quick courier service. One of our clients even boast 100% green deliveries through us!
We’re truly proud of our commitment to offering green fleets and helping make all our cities more sustainable and ecologically sound.
Get in touch for more information on our reliable, nationwide B2B delivery service.
