For decades, airfreight has been associated with speed and efficiency, but also with significant carbon emissions. Today, shippers and logistics providers face mounting scrutiny over their environmental footprint. Driven by increasing environmental pressures and the promise of digital transformation, companies are now looking beyond simple regulatory compliance to embed sustainability at the heart of their operations.
“It all starts with the vision,” says Martijn Smeets, Co-Founder of CargoClub. “You need to have that vision of, we want to become more CO2 neutral, or we want to invest in sustainability just because it’s the right thing to do.”
By prioritising sustainable logistics, companies can not only reduce emissions but also strengthen relationships with customers who increasingly value green practices. “Currently, polycrisis is happening, right? It takes away the attention, but in the long term, this will be the most fundamental thing for the industry to move forward,” he explains. By prioritising sustainable logistics, companies can not only reduce emissions but also strengthen relationships with customers who increasingly value green practices.
A competitive advantage
For many logistics providers, sustainability has evolved from an optional add-on to a key differentiator. Smeets emphasises the importance of aligning green initiatives with customer needs: “It’s about getting close to your customers, supporting them in the transition. That’s where competitiveness comes from right now.”
Financial incentives also play a role, though they are less straightforward than in other sectors. “Ideally, I would like to say that we have a cost for CO2 that makes it the easiest way, but it’s not there yet,” Smeets says. Instead, he highlights the potential for return on investment in terms of customer retention. “Retention is still often overlooked, misunderstood, and there’s a huge potential for companies to save lost productivity hours on that retention side. Don’t start looking into new customers if you don’t have your back door shut,” he adds.
Industries such as pharmaceuticals and high-tech are particularly responsive to sustainability initiatives. “There it really becomes a value-added service and really helps the big shippers on their decarbonisation journey,” Smeets notes. Regulatory frameworks, such as emerging EU carbon rules, are beginning to accelerate adoption, but the path is not uniform across the sector. “I hope, with the help of ICAO and other industry bodies, the aviation industry will also follow to come to a common understanding that we need to do something,” he says.
Digitalisation and data integration
Central to this transformation is the adoption of digital platforms and data-driven logistics. Many smaller companies still rely on outdated systems that do not communicate effectively with modern platforms like TMS or Cargowise. “The foundation for any innovation is getting the data right, building proper data lakes,” Smeets highlighted,” Smeets highlighted.
Artificial intelligence offers a potential solution. “Hopefully with AI, you’re able to streamline that data and help build connections more in an automated way than having a person updating Excel files and uploading it into a system,” Smeets explains. Transparency is another key benefit. While some commercial data remains guarded, AI and integrated platforms can improve reporting and compliance: “It’s fundamental to build something meaningful and also to share something with it via an API, if you agree with your stakeholders, your vendors, to share data,” he says.
For small and mid-sized logistics players, digitalisation offers a pathway to compete with larger companies. Sustainability can become that value proposition, helping customers decarbonise while maintaining competitive pricing. “The basis of freight forwarding and air cargo has always been around price, a combination of price and service. Mid-sized forwarders lack the bargaining power for better rates, so they need to add more value to justify the price,” Smeets notes.
The next step
Emerging technologies like blockchain and sustainable certificates are also entering the conversation, promising enhanced trust and verification across supply chains. “Trust is important. If people don’t trust the thing, then it will never pick up,” Smeets says. Yet he remains cautious: adoption remains patchy, and meaningful integration of such technologies is still in its early stages.
Looking forward, the sector faces a long journey to truly sustainable airfreight. “It’s optimising supply chains, ensuring the right goods are in the right place, minimising transport of goods, looking more into cost-effective geo locations, nearshoring,” Smeets explains. Technological and operational improvements will require collaboration between OEMs, logistics providers, and regulators, with timelines stretching over decades. “Before an aircraft is developed and in production, it’s 15 to 20 years minimum. We need to pick up pace and maybe look at other industries to expedite that development,” he concludes. “It’s a long journey, and things take time, but we need to pick up pace.”
