From January 2010 onwards, the Weinheim, Germany based trans-o-flex Logistics Group offers customers its new Co2de Green service, thus enabling them to benefit from completely CO₂-free shipments at a national level. "Following a phase of intensive preliminary work, we are now in the position to accurately determine the CO₂ emissions for our national shipments and, on the basis of certified climate protection projects, neutralise the discharge of the greenhouse gas", says Kai Schmuck, Director Sales & Marketing of trans-o-flex. For the customers that want to use such a climate-neutral solution for the general improvement of their own climate footprint or for specific campaigns or recipient groups, the application of this new system has been made as easy as possible. They just have to buy the required number of Co2de Green stickers to mark the parcels. In this way, the recipients are provided with reliable evidence of the climate-neutral shipment of their goods.
In 2005, the trans-o-flex management started to develop and persistently implement a comprehensive sustainability strategy. Important milestones in this direction were the company's entry into Global Compact, the United Nations' value platform for a sustainable globalisation, as well as the introduction of an ethical policy and an extensive resource preservation plan with numerous elements: from training seminars for the drivers and the use of geo-thermia up to the general conversion to electricity from renewable energy sources and the procurement of natural-gas-powered vehicles. Last but not least: since 2007, the company has been regularly setting up a complete CO₂ balance that, in compliance with the data collection guidelines and standards of the Greenhouse Gas Protocol (international standard for the corporate greenhouse gas accounting and reporting), shows how much greenhouse gas is emitted or produced in which of the company's and its partners' processes. This provides trans-o-flex with a detailed basis in deciding where the company's own climate footprint can still be improved and also made it easier to introduce CO₂-neutral services.
For the time being, CO₂-neutral shipment services will only be offered on the basis of external climate protection projects", explains Schmuck. "For two reasons: firstly the transportation will, despite all efforts to reduce the discharge of CO₂, continue to cause emissions in the future as well. Secondly, customers might suspect a hidden price increase, if internal CO₂ projects are also financed using the surcharges. For the purpose of climate protection, we must do our utmost to avoid giving this impression." Therefore, trans-o-flex has decided to use certified climate protection projects in order to ensure transparent neutralisation processes. To this end, trans-o-flex makes advance payments and purchases from these projects CO₂ certificates that are passed on to the customers in the form of Co2de Green stickers. In addition to this, the customers are, upon request, also provided with a detailed overview of how many emissions were generated due to forwarding their shipments and how much of this could be neutralised. Schmuck: "We want to enable our customers to include logistic processes in their own CO₂ balance. Thus, they have all the means necessary to decisively improve their own climate footprint."