UPS/GreenBiz Survey Finds Businesses Are Concerned About Impacts Of Urbanization
September 14 2017 - 01:00PM
- Less than Half Feel Prepared to Tackle These
Challenges
- Survey Offers New Insights Into Logistics Challenges
and Opportunities
- Collaboration Needed to Build Environmentally
Sustainable Cities
A new study from UPS (NYSE:UPS) and GreenBiz Group reveals
nearly all companies (95 percent) surveyed are concerned about how
urbanization will impact business growth and sustainability.
However, according to The Road to Sustainable Urban Logistics
survey, only 47 percent feel prepared to address the associated
business challenges. Further, respondents cite air quality (58
percent) and traffic congestion (53 percent) as top concerns over
other urban challenges. And 65 percent of respondents believe
insufficient collaboration across sectors, including government, is
a key barrier to well-managed logistic operations in urban
areas.
The full research findings will be explored in depth at the
GreenBiz VERGE conference in Santa Clara, California, beginning
next Tuesday, September 19th.
“This research clearly highlights the complexity of logistics
operations in urban environments,” said Mark Wallace, senior
vice president, global engineering and sustainability. “Increased
urbanization and congestion make logistics far less predictable and
harder to manage. Without implementing innovative solutions
supported by technology and logistics ingenuity, we run the risk of
increasing congestion and emissions – we need solutions, and
collaboration is the key.”
The movement of goods is an essential function to support
businesses and residents, and a fundamental source of economic
growth in cities. Access to e-commerce is part of what makes
alternative transportation modes and walkable urbanism a viable
choice. At the same time, transportation and delivery can
contribute to pollution and gridlock, and can be challenging for
companies both large and small to manage sustainably. When asked
how the rise in e-commerce, increased urbanization and congestion
have affected how they conduct business in urban areas, 81 percent
of survey respondents noted some form of impact on their business,
such as the ability to meet e-commerce customer expectations (33
percent), make deliveries to retail locations (32 percent), and
meet city requirement for emission levels (31 percent).
According to UN projections, continuing population growth and
urbanization are projected to add 2.5 billion people to the world’s
urban population by 2050. The study offers insights on strategies
and pilot projects being explored to better manage the movement of
goods in cities, now and in the future. The results point toward
data-driven technologies that increase efficiencies and reduce
traffic, renewable and alternative energy and fuels that help
address air quality issues, the accurate measurement and management
of carbon emissions, and supply chain optimization – all strategies
being deployed by UPS worldwide. The real difference-maker,
though, isn’t any single piece of technology. It’s the commitment
to partner with cities, academics, and other business leaders to
develop solutions together.
“While progress is certainly underway, no one entity can tackle
the challenge of building and implementing the future needs of
sustainable cities,” said John Davies, GreenBiz Group’s vice
president and senior analyst. “Smart collaborations, continued
research and investments in infrastructure will remain critical to
meet the logistical and environmental demands cities face. Driving
policy discussions and decisions based on data is essential to
ensuring operational efficiencies for companies and preserving a
desirable quality of life for city dwellers.”
The majority of survey respondents (63 percent) believe
businesses’ role is critical to accelerating, piloting and adopting
innovative approaches to creating more sustainable urban
environments. And an overwhelming 72 percent want to work closely
with city officials to do so.
“No two cities are alike,” concluded Wallace. ”Yet, we’ve found
that there’s common ground. We’re able to take the knowledge we’re
gathering as we work with cities across the globe and apply it to
each new city that joins us in partnership to address this
issue.”
For full research study results and to download the white paper,
visit ups.com/sustainability.
About the Research Study
The 2017 UPS/GreenBiz The Road to Sustainable Urban Logistics
Research Study provides insights into the business challenges
associated with logistics in an urban environment and the
opportunties to contribute to a more environmentally sustainable
city center.
The 2017 UPS and GreenBiz Sustainable Urban Logistics Research
Study presents the findings of qualitative research, along with an
online survey conducted by GreenBiz Group in June 2017 among a
sample of 612 respondents within the GreenBiz Intelligence Panel.
The margin of error is ± 4 percent at a 95 percent level of
confidence.
About UPS
UPS (NYSE) is a global leader in logistics, offering a broad
range of solutions transporting packages and freight; facilitating
international trade, and deploying advanced technology to more
efficiently manage the world of business. UPS is committed to
operating more sustainably – for customers, the environment and the
communities we serve around the world. Learn more about our
efforts at ups.com/sustainability. Headquartered in Atlanta,
UPS serves more than 220 countries and territories worldwide. The
company can be found on the web at ups.com and its
corporate blog can be found at longitudes.ups.com. To get UPS
news direct, follow @UPS_News on Twitter.
About GreenBiz Group
GreenBiz Group’s mission is to define and accelerate the
business of sustainability. It does this through a wide range of
products and services, including its acclaimed website GreenBiz.com
and e-newsletters, GreenBuzz and VERGE Weekly; webcasts on topics
of importance to sustainability and energy executives; research
reports, including the annual State of Green Business; the GreenBiz
Executive Network, a membership-based, peer-to-peer learning forum
for sustainability executives; and its annual GreenBiz forum and
VERGE conferences.
Kristen Petrella
404-828-4182
kpetrella@ups.com
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