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Logistics
logistics professionals finds that 87 percent of operators now rank emissions reduction as a priority. So, why are they still struggling to act? Two major roadblocks stand in the way: economic pressure and organizational capability.
A challenging operating environment sees 89 percent expecting costs to rise this year and over half( 52 percent) locked into purely cost-driven logistics decisions. Emissions goals often stumble on financial pressure before gaining steam.
Many organizations also lack the knowhow to act. Almost two-thirds( 64 percent) admit they don’ t know where to start on emissions, up from 59 percent in 2024, proof that appetite to improve is growing faster than the ability to act on it.
Persistent structural barriers – blocks to technology integration, a lack of in-house expertise, and internal resistance to change – inhibit the ability to turn that ambition into practice. None of these are cost or emissions barriers in isolation. They block both simultaneously, which is why solving one without the other rarely works.
Promisingly, the businesses successfully addressing this tension head-on aren’ t just the ones with the biggest budgets. Rather, they’ re the operators who have stopped treating cost and carbon as two separate demands and started treating them as the same investment in the business’ s future.
Everything starts with visibility
Without visibility of the issue, ambition is redundant- no one can close a gap they can’ t see. This is a key area where the right technology can help.
For example, GXO’ s insight report finds a lack of optimization technology drives 37 percent higher maintenance costs, 32 percent longer delivery times, and 32 percent higher CO₂ emissions. Those numbers point to a simultaneous cost and carbon challenge.
The starting point is to learn exactly where inefficiency exists, such as underutilized fleet capacity or suboptimal routing, then quantifying each one directly in financial and operational outcomes.
The data finds that 85 percent of businesses have increased fleet optimization investment in the last year. These efforts may have been driven by the need to manage costs and drive efficiencies, but they also put these organizations in a strong position for the longer-term transition away from diesel.
Real-time visibility tools are built to do exactly that, pulling data into one place so planning, optimization, and fleet management can address real issues in real time. It also opens possibilities around collaboration by aligning subcontractor procurement, management, and compliance. Access to a network of scale will increasingly shape how the sector hits its targets.
This is the groundwork businesses need before they can properly drive the transition to alternative fuel vehicles: enhance efficiencies now, since the tools already exist, and build a longterm road map for fuel transition on solid foundations.
Making the switch to AVs
Nowhere is the distance between ambition and action wider than around alternative fuels.
Only 35 percent of operators strongly agree they have a clear strategy and timeline for alternative fuel HGV adoption. This is hardly surprising given the
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