UK: In the absence of any meaningful progress at last month’s Copenhagen climate summit, the freight industry is leading the debate on how to record and sensibly reduce its own carbon emissions.

The new voluntary scheme led by the Freight Transport Association (FTA) will benchmark the logistics sector’s carbon footprint, giving policy makers a reliable evidence base for future carbon reduction strategies.

The Logistics Carbon Reduction Scheme (LCRS) aims to record, report and reduce carbon dioxide emissions from the freight transport sector. It has been backed by some of FTA’s leading members, which represent over 23 000 commercial vehicles.

The LCRS will be open to all operators of commercial vehicles to join from early 2010. FTA will report its first data collection cycle in January 2011, and every 12 months thereafter.

Stewart Oades, FTA president, said:  "We take our environmental responsibility very seriously and FTA has positioned itself at the vanguard for carbon reporting and, subsequently, reducing its footprint.

“We look forward to working with the Department for Transport in developing a robust and consistent carbon measurement and reporting method.”

Under the scheme, LCRS members will be committed to submit their fuel data to FTA for analysis to provide an accurate picture of the logistics sector’s carbon footprint. This will allow government to base its carbon reduction policy on hard evidence.

Freight and logistics movements are responsible for around 30% of transport emissions, but without them the economy and essential services would grind to a halt.