SUSTAINABILITY
60
Last mile delivery is one of the most costly segments of the supply chain . McKinsey estimates that the final leg of a delivery comprises up to 50 % of a product ’ s total transportation cost . However , the real and lasting impact that last mile delivery can have is much closer to home , quite literally . A successful first-time final mile home delivery creates approximately 181g of CO2 per km per item , way above the EU target set in 2017 for vans not to emit more than 175mg per km . In recent years , the only real alternatives to carbon-free bicycle deliveries have been cars , vans and motorbikes ; all serial pollutants of CO2 into the atmosphere and all the more costly too .
Consider the emissions involved in delivering take-away food , for example . Customers consistently demand short waiting times , with more than a quarter of consumers being willing to pay more for quicker delivery . This demand means that food vendors are deploying bigger fleets of delivery drivers to complete return car journeys to individual homes . They are forced to expand their fleet because it is difficult to integrate multiple deliveries into one journey , as vendors often
JANUARY 2020