The freight forwarding industry is facing increasing pressure to reduce its environmental impact, but as the demand for sustainability grows, challenges remain in balancing greener goals with profitability. The environmental impact of freight forwarders is largely driven by the movement of goods from their customers, known as Scope 3 emissions.
While improvements in warehouses, such as solar panels and electric company vehicles, are common to tackle Scope 1 and 2 emissions, they no longer set companies apart. The real challenge lies in the actual transportation, where forwarders often rely on external partners for trucking, air, sea, or rail transport; freight forwarders don’t own the transportation assets.
They rely on third-party providers whose goals—such as cost efficiency—may not align with the forwarder’s sustainability targets pushed forward by their customers, making emissions reduction challenging. To address this, freight forwarders need to work closely with their logistics partners, as well as their customers, to promote sustainability across the entire supply chain.
Collaboration and loyalty are essential for achieving meaningful emissions reductions and driving progress toward more sustainable logistics practices.
“While sustainability is a hot topic, the reality is that many consumers and businesses are reluctant to pay for it. Shippers acknowledge sustainability requirements in RFQs, but price and service still take precedence. Regulations, like those in Europe, provide some direction, but without strong business incentives, widespread adoption remains limited,” Martijn Smeets, Co-Founder of CargoClub, explained.
“This is evident in programs where freight forwarders and airlines offer customers the option to offset emissions through carbon credits or lower emissions by contributing to sustainable fuels. Marketing may highlight the success of these initiatives, but in practice, only one to five percent of customers engage with them. High costs remain a significant barrier, and unless the industry makes meaningful progress, these costs will continue to hamper sustainability efforts.”
“Freight forwarding in airfreight is often driven by ad-hoc shipments, with many opportunities arising from spot business rather than longterm contracts. While large shippers provide consistent volume for bigger players, smaller forwarders face fluctuating revenues, making it challenging to plan for long-term growth. This volatility can lead to customer churn if pricing or service isn’t competitive,” Matthijs de Bock, Co-Founder of CargoClub, added. “As a result, forwarders prioritise short-term gains over longterm investments, such as sustainability initiatives, which can be costly and offer uncertain returns.
This focus on immediate financial outcomes can hinder the adoption of sustainable practices.”
Incentivising sustainability
CargoClub works to help freight forwarders build and retain customer loyalty through its innovative Frequent Shipper Program, which is similar to the frequent flyer programs offered by airlines but tailored specifically for B2B air cargo. This program provides a unique incentive structure that aligns the goals of forwarders, shippers, and carriers while promoting more sustainable logistics.
Once a forwarder launches the program, shippers can earn loyalty points for every transaction or euro spent on air cargo shipments. These points accumulate over time and can be redeemed for carbon credits. The carbon credits can then be used by shippers to meet regulatory requirements, demonstrate their commitment to sustainability, or offset emissions from their logistics operations. “What makes this approach stand out is its focus on both sustainability and customer loyalty. In an industry where businesses will continue to move goods globally, the challenge is finding ways to incentivise more sustainable practices without disrupting the supply chain,” Smeets expressed.
“CargoClub’s program helps solve this by creating an easy, reward-driven pathway for businesses to take part in the sustainability transition, without requiring them to make drastic changes or incur high costs upfront.” “This model aligns the motivations of both shippers and forwarders. As forwarders strive to grow their customer portfolios, and businesses look for ways to meet sustainability targets, CargoClub’s Frequent Shipper Program fosters a mutually beneficial ecosystem.
By integrating eco-friendly incentives into the logistics process, CargoClub offers a fresh, scalable approach to sustainable air cargo logistics that supports the industry’s broader sustainability goals.” In the fast-paced logistics industry, time is always of the essence. To address customer retention challenges and meet the growing demand for sustainable logistics, CargoClub focuses on delivering immediate value to both freight forwarders and shippers. Our strategy centers around enhancing the customer experience without disrupting existing business processes. “To achieve this, we’ve developed an end-to-end loyalty engine that provides instant benefits while minimising any disruption to current workflows. Our solution seamlessly complements the sales cycle of freight forwarders, improving customer engagement and retention. We handle all the calculations and administrative tasks, allowing our clients to focus on building stronger relationships with their shippers,” de Bock expressed.
“In line with the increasing need for digital integration, we’ve created an API-first solution that enables easy integration with core customer portals. This ensures that our platform feels like a natural extension of the forwarder’s existing systems. Recognising that not all customers require deep IT involvement, we’ve also designed a simple, user-friendly widget that can be implemented within a few hours. For those looking for a more comprehensive solution, we offer a full software package that can be deployed without any IT resources. “Ultimately, our approach addresses both customer retention and sustainability. By providing a seamless, low-touch solution, CargoClub helps forwarders offer value-added services that align with the demand for more sustainable logistics practices”. Cultural and operational shifts The key to breaking the reliance on discount-driven growth lies in incentives. To foster long-term, sustainable growth, freight forwarders need to shift from transactional relationships driven by price to a focus on customer acquisition and retention. This can be achieved by realigning sales managers’ bonuses and incentives toward long-term success rather than short-term wins. In addition to shifting incentives, people and technology must evolve. The logistics industry has historically relied on the “old-boysnetwork,” resulting in an imbalance between seasoned professionals leaving the industry and younger talent entering.
This creates a mismatch between outdated technology and the expectations of newer generations joining the workforce. Gen Z and Alpha workers won’t be interested in companies still running operating systems from the 80s—a surprising reality for many multi-million-dollar logistics firms.
“Logistics, particularly air cargo, is a hard-to-abate sector that requires a balanced strategy for carbon emission reduction. Both offsetting and insetting play essential roles in accelerating progress toward net-zero goals. While no solution is perfect—Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF), for instance, doesn’t guarantee 100% emission reductions—combining these approaches, when executed with highquality and transparent methods, offers the most comprehensive impact,” de Bock highlighted.
“Collaboration is key. By partnering with providers who offer transparent infrastructure and manage high-quality carbon projects, including certification and screening, we can effectively integrate both strategies to meet our industry’s challenges and accelerate our collective journey toward sustainability.”
“For logistics to remain a competitive and attractive industry, organisations need to modernise their systems, processes, and mindset,” Smeets outlined. “At CargoClub, we’re proud of the recognition we received at the latest TIACA Sustainability Awards, where we were named finalists in the Startup category during the Air Cargo Forum Conference in Miami. This acknowledgment reinforces our commitment to driving cultural and operational change within the industry, embracing data-driven, sustainable practices as we work toward the future.”
