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Understanding These Sample Results
This example reflects typical priorities for shipping companies, but your unique fleet, routes, and client base may influence your sustainability plan. For customised recommendations that fit your business size, operational complexity, and goals, take our quick materiality assessment quiz. You’ll receive a tailored action plan designed to help you reduce emissions, improve workplace safety, and strengthen your reputation as a responsible logistics leader.
How We Identify Key Impact Areas
Our assessment tool evaluates six shipping-specific sustainability pillars:
View the sample report below to explore them all in detail.
Using double materiality principles, we analyse both how sustainability issues affect your company’s profitability and reputation (such as regulatory compliance, customer expectations, and cost savings) and how your operations impact the environment and community (like reducing air and water pollution or supporting fair labor practices).
Your Custom Sustainability Roadmap
This sample roadmap focuses on high-impact, achievable steps, starting strong with 3 quick wins:
Build Momentum: Targeted Strategies
Each priority area includes expert-backed solutions like:
Track & Share Progress Effectively
We emphasise transparent reporting frameworks and industry certifications to help you:
Ready to move beyond generic advice? Take our free assessment to receive a roadmap addressing your shipping company’s unique challenges.
We've estimated your sustainability priorities based on your answers. For a precise evaluation, it would be best to speak to an expert.
There's a lot to consider, but to maximise your efforts here are 3 high impact actions to start with.
Implement reusable transport packaging such as pallets, crates, and nets. Circular solutions reduce waste, often lower costs over time, and attract customers looking to reduce transport impacts.
Align your practices with ILO International Labour Standards while ensuring you meet all local labour laws and industry agreements. Meeting these standards protects your workers' rights and protects your business against legal and reputational issues.
Implement comprehensive health and safety practices to protect your staff from harm. Strong safety protocols and culture protect your team, avoid legal risks, and create a more productive environment.
Managing fuel use and emissions across your logistics operations. Efficient transport reduces costs, cuts carbon emissions, and prepares your business for a low-carbon future.
Regularly upgrade to vehicles using cleaner fuels and technologies. Staying current with low-emission options reduces your carbon footprint, air pollution and fuel costs while often improving reliability.
Switch to renewable energy by installing solar panels or wind turbines or purchasing renewable-powered electricity. Generating your own power not only significantly reduces your carbon footprint but also reduces energy costs and provides energy security for your operations.
Upgrade lighting, HVAC systems and building insulation for maximum efficiency. Smart energy management cuts utility bills while reducing your carbon footprint.
Optimise delivery routes, load planning, and driving practices to maximise efficiency. Smart software can help to reduce fuel costs, cut emissions, and often improve delivery times and customer satisfaction.
Implement a warehouse management system (WMS) to optimise inventory handling, improve efficiency and reduce waste by preventing expired goods. A WMS typically delivers rapid return on investment through labour and inventory savings.
Optimise refrigeration systems for maximum energy efficiency. Modern, well-maintained cooling equipment uses less energy, reduces emissions, and better protects temperature-sensitive cargo.
Switch to refrigerants with lower global warming potential for your cooling systems. This simple change reduces your carbon footprint - keeping your products and the climate cool!
Optimise packaging to maximise space utilisation and minimise weight. Efficient packing means more can be carried per trip, translating into lower emissions and freight costs for your business.
Creating safe, fair conditions for logistics staff. Healthy, respected employees have fewer accidents, provide better service, and help maintain efficiency in your operations.
Align your practices with ILO International Labour Standards while ensuring you meet all local labour laws and industry agreements. Meeting these standards protects your workers' rights and protects your business against legal and reputational issues.
Implement comprehensive health and safety practices to protect your staff from harm. Strong safety protocols and culture protect your team, avoid legal risks, and create a more productive environment.
Foster an environment where employees feel valued, supported, listened to and empowered. A positive culture, inclusion of diversity, employee consultation and mental health protections boost morale, reduce turnover and attract top talent.
Create comprehensive policies that establish clear standards and expectations of employees and business partners. Well-crafted policies reduce risk to your business by ensuring staff alignment and also enable you to articulate business commitments to new starters and stakeholders.
Managing chemical risks and preventing pollution in transport and storage. Proper handling protects the environment, prevents costly cleanups, and maintains your reputation.
Combine spill prevention, containment infrastructure, monitoring strategies, and staff training to prevent loss of hazardous materials. A rigorous approach minimises danger to people and the environment and ensures quick, effective responses when incidents occur.
Implement protocols to reduce the risk of chemical spills during transport. Smart prevention strategies protect the environment, avoid costly cleanups, and maintain your reputation as a responsible logistics provider.
Optimising packaging used throughout the logistics chain. Better packaging choices reduce waste, cut shipping costs, and improve the sustainability of your delivery services.
Implement reusable transport packaging such as pallets, crates, and nets. Circular solutions reduce waste, often lower costs over time, and attract customers looking to reduce transport impacts.
Minimising waste from packaging, damaged goods, and facility operations. Smart waste management cuts disposal costs and often identifies opportunities to recover value.
Use monitoring technology to ensure optimal temperature and other factors are maintained throughout shipment. Real-time tracking prevents spoilage, reduces waste, and helps ensure product quality for your customers.
Ensuring your logistics business operates with integrity and transparency. Strong governance builds trust with customers and staff while protecting your business from risks.
Implement a structured EMS to monitor and manage environmnetal emissions and hazards. A clear system provides transparency and ensures compliance while driving continuous improvement.
Collect data on your environmental and social footprint. Tracking performance helps identify opportunities for improvement and demonstrate progress to stakeholders.
Develop a sustainability strategy that identifies your specific environmental and social priority areas with clear targets and an action plan to achieve them. A focused roadmap aligns your team and drives meaningful change.
Report on your sustainability commitments and progress honestly and transparently, and aligned with best practice frameworks. Sharing both the good and the bad builds trust with customers, staff, and stakeholders while showcasing your efforts.
Pursue certifications that validate your sustainability efforts. Achieving recognised standards demonstrates leadership, enhances credibility and attracts conscious partners.
Support local community causes and environmental initiatives that are relevant to your business or stakeholders. Giving back to people and planet builds goodwill, strengthens ties and demonstrates your values in action.
Document your commitment and approach to sustainability with policies and procedures. This maintains consistency, enables you to demonstrate the concrete steps in place to stakeholders and sets you up for future certification.
Modern slavery affects around 50 million people globally, and your business has legal and ethical obligations to ensure it is not complicit. Conducting human rights due diligence of your procurement, partners and operations helps you to take targeted action.
Sustainability issues present a slew of new emerging risks to your business, including both physical climate disruption and broader business transition risks and opportunities. Embedding these risks and scenario analysis into your management practices helps protect your bottom line.
A materiality assessment is a process for shipping companies to identify and prioritise the most important ESG issues, such as fuel efficiency, emissions, and employee wellbeing.
Shipping companies benefit from a materiality assessment by focusing on issues like reducing emissions, managing hazardous materials, and ensuring fair labor practices, which can improve efficiency, meet regulations, and build client trust.
The process involves engaging stakeholders, analysing business impacts, and ranking issues by importance. For shipping companies, this might include assessing fleet operations, supply chain ethics, and governance practices.
Best practice is to update your materiality assessment annually, or when there are significant changes in your business, regulations, or stakeholder expectations.
Begin by taking our industry-specific materiality assessment quiz. This will help you identify your top priorities and create a customised action plan for sustainability.