Transport Efficiency Commitment

FDF members are committed to embedding environmental standards into their transport practices, including their contracts with hauliers as they fall for renewal, to achieve 'fewer and friendlier' food transport miles.

Introduction

Few people in modern societies are self-sufficient in food and drink. It is generally provided on a commercial scale and transported from plough to plate within a globally competitive market. Transporting food and drink, like all other goods, has environmental and social impacts.

Research on the UK food chain shows these overwhelmingly as the impacts of road congestion, damage to infrastructure, and road accidents. There are also impacts on air and noise pollution and CO2 emissions, though to a much lesser extent.

Last October, FDF launched our Five-fold Environmental Ambition. We committed to make a significant contribution to improving the environment by targeting priorities where our members can make the biggest difference.

Under this, and dovetailing with IGD's work on greater transport collaboration across the food chain, FDF promised to develop an environmental checklist to encourage our members to achieve fewer and friendlier food miles. We also promised to develop an environmental clause, for use by our members in contracts as they fall for renewal. This would ask third party hauliers to publish a fewer and friendlier food miles manifesto and to report annually on their environmental performance.

We are pleased that about 40 FDF member companies with a combined turnover of over £16 bn have signed up to the checklist on day one. The vast majority use third party contractors and so will be applying the environmental clause.

FDF applauds the continued leadership being shown by members on this important agenda - the impact of which is best brought alive by the case studies included in this pack. By achieving 'fewer and friendlier' food transport miles, members will contribute to the challenge thrown down in the Food Industry Sustainability Strategy for the food chain to reduce its environmental and social impacts by 20% by 2012 compared to 2002.

Step by step, and working collectively, we are pleased that FDF members are making a difference to the environment – both now and for the future.

Fiona Dawson
Managing Director, Mars UK
Chair, FDF Sustainability and Competitiveness Steering Group

Callton Young OBE
Sustainability and Competitiveness Director, Food and Drink Federation

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Transport Commitment

FDF's 10 Point Checklist for Greener Food Transport

FDF members are committed to embedding environmental standards in their food transport practices, including contracts with hauliers as they fall for renewal, to achieve 'fewer and friendlier' food transport miles.

FDF has developed the 10 Point Checklist for Greener Food Transport (See Transport Efficiency, making the real difference (pdf, 769kb) for full details) to help members achieve this goal. Its adoption will also enable members to contribute to a UK food chain[1] target to reduce the environmental and social costs of its domestic food transportation by 20% by 2012 compared to 2002 [2].

The Role of FDF Members

FDF member companies signing up to use the 10 Point Checklist for Greener Food Transport agree to use it as a review aid in relation to their own fleets or, as in most cases, to embed its principles at the heart of their relationships with third party road hauliers.

Those signing in respect of their relations with third party hauliers agree, as contracts fall for renewal, to introduce a draft environmental clause. This will require a haulier to:

  • develop and publish a fewer and friendlier food transport miles manifesto which shows how the company will operate to reduce the environmental and social impact of its transportation of food and drink
  • provide qualitative annual reports to the food manufacturer (which could be shared and used by FDF) to demonstrate progress regarding fewer and friendlier food transport miles.

The Role of FDF

FDF will collate the annual reports submitted by hauliers to signatory companies to illustrate the collective impact of FDF's policy on greener food transport and to supplement the quantitative data which Defra already publishes annually to show progress across the food chain as a whole.

FDF will continue to work closely with IGD's Efficient Consumer Response Programme to achieve greater transport collaboration and improved distribution across the food chain as a whole, dovetailing our work with theirs to ensure consistency and to avoid duplication.

1 Beyond primary production, e.g. the farmgate, ports
2 Proposed in the Food Industry Sustainability Strategy published by Defra in 2006

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Signatories

Some 40 food and drink companies pledged to make fewer and friendlier food transport miles, signing up to the Environmental Checklist and Clause for Greener Food Transport at the launch on 15 July 2008

For the full list of these signatories see Transport Efficiency, making the real difference (pdf, 769kb) published by FDF in July 2008.

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Message from Defra

Thank you for inviting me to your Summer Reception on 15 July.

Protecting the environment and developing sustainable transport systems, especially where distribution is concerned, are very topical issues and especially important for us at the Department for Transport. I was therefore pleased to read about the Federation's 'Five-Fold Environmental Ambition', and I welcome its clear and ambitious targets for making a real difference to the environment across members' business operations.

In particular I welcome its goal for 'fewer and friendlier' food transport miles, which shows commitment to a transport policy that delivers economic growth and lower carbon emissions, and reflects our own policy.

In March 2007 many food and drink fleets – including several from among your members – participated in the Department's food and drink sector benchmarking survey, leading to a newly published Benchmarking Guide.

I hope you will be able to take part in our next survey planned for March 2009. Such benchmarking of operational performance can improve efficiency gains across the sector as well as helping FDF members to achieve their ambition for greener food transport.

I recognise the strong leadership and commitment being shown and I wish the Federation and its members every success delivering against their 'Five-fold Environmental Ambition'.

Jim Fitzpatrick MP
Department for Transport

More Information


Last reviewed: 16 Jul 2008