Course Outline

Module 1: Assessing The Environmental Effects Of Logistics

Environmental Sustainability: A New Priority For Logistics Managers

• A brief history of green logistics research
• Green logistics: rhetoric and reality
• Future scenarios
• A model for green logistics research

Assessing The External Impacts Of Freight Transport

• External impacts
• Environmental standards
• Measuring the environmental impact of freight transport

Carbon Auditing Of Companies, Supply Chains And Products

• Guidelines for carbon footprinting
• The carbon footprinting process
• Success factors in carbon footprinting

Case Study: Carbon Auditing Of Road Freight Transport Operations In Kenya 

Evaluating And Internalizing The Environmental Costs Of Logistics

• Arguments for and against the internalization of environmental costs
• Monetary valuation of environmental costs
• Internalization of the external costs imposed by road freight vehicles in Kenya 

Module 2: Strategic Perspective

Restructuring Road Freight Networks Within Supply Chains

• Traditional network design
• Green network design
• Uncertainty in transport and supply chains
• Uncertainty mitigation approaches in road freight transport networks
• Gaps in our understanding and priorities for research
• Consequences and conclusions

Transferring Freight To ‘Greener’ Transport Modes

• Characteristics of the main freight transport modes
• Environmental impacts of the main freight transport modes

Case Study: Container Train Load Factors

• The policy framework
• Examples of measures aimed at achieving modal shift for environmental benefit
• Rail and water industries

Development Of Greener Vehicles, Aircraft And Ships

• Road freight
• Rail freight operations
• Air freight
• Shipping

Reducing The Environmental Impact Of Warehousing

• Scale of the environmental impact
• Increasing resource intensity
• Framework for assessing the environmental impact of warehouses
• Ways of reducing the environmental impact

Module 3: Operational Perspective

Opportunities For Improving Vehicle Utilization

• Measuring vehicle utilization
• Factors affecting the utilization of truck capacity

 Optimizing The Routing Of Vehicles

• Vehicle routing problems
• Types of problem
• Environmental impact

Increasing Fuel Efficiency In The Road Freight Sector

• Fuel efficiency of new trucks
• Vehicle design: aerodynamic profiling
• Reducing the vehicle tare weight
• Vehicle purchase decision
• Vehicle maintenance
• Increasing the fuel efficiency of trucking operations
• Benchmarking the fuel efficiency of trucks
• More fuel-efficient driving
• Fleet management

Reverse Logistics For The Management Of Waste

• Waste management in the context of reverse logistics
• The impact of waste treatment legislation
• Reuse, refurbishment markets and take-back schemes
• Managing waste as part of a sustainable reverse process

Module 4: Key Issues

The food miles debate: is shorter better?

• Transport and GHGs: is further worse?
• Transport, the second-order impacts and the implications for GHGs
• Local versus global and the self-sufficiency question

Sustainability Strategies For City Logistics 

• Urban freight research and policy making
• Efficiency problems in urban freight transport
• Urban freight transport initiatives
• Urban consolidation centers
• Joint working between the public and private sectors
• Environmental zones

Benefits And Costs Of Switching To Alternative Fuels

• Market developments of alternative fuels
• Current use of alternative fuels in the freight industry
• The future

E-Business, E-Logistics And The Environment

• Business-to-business (B2B)
• Business-to-consumer (B2C)
• Restructuring of the supply chain
• The future
• Public policy perspective

Module 5: The Role Of Government In Promoting Green Logistics

• Objectives of public policy on sustainable logistics
• Policy measures
• Reducing freight transport intensity
• Shifting freight to greener transport modes
• Improving vehicle utilization
• Increasing energy efficiency
• Cutting emissions relative to energy use