The FTA has agreed to support the UK government’s short term target of reducing carbon emissions in HGVs by 15% by 2025 against 2015 figures. The FTA will adopt the target into its Logistics Emission Reduction Scheme (LERS) and adding this to the LERS initial target of 7% reductions.

“All sectors of society need to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions if we are to avoid the worst effects of climate change.  HGVs and their operators have to play their part in this and significant steps have already been made by the industry to change its behaviours and impact on the environment,” said FTA head of UK policy Christopher Snelling.

The FTA pointed out however that logistics can’t do this alone. It said that operator need support to continue to supply the UK with the five million tonnes of goods that are moved around every day for the country to function. The government will need to “support those responsible for moving goods by HGVs to enable them to facilitate the change without undue penalty,” said Snelling.

Recognising this, the government has proposed a series of additional measures to support toe logistics industry in its recently published Road to Zero report. The FTA welcomed those measures as a step towards decarbonising logistics, especially as without governmental support the road for operators would be a very long and unattainable one, said Snelling.