 "Innovating to drive change in transportation")
The movement of people and goods is crucial to the world economy. Whether travelling for work, visiting friends, or using products shipped from another country, we rely on transport to go about our daily lives. However our roads, train stations, ports and airports are busier than ever as populations grow and we increasingly move into cities.
Globally, the transportation sector is expected to continue growing, with a geographic shift of demand and manufacturing to the developing economies. But with this growth, environmental concerns are also increasing. Presently, more than 60% of the 87 million barrels of oil consumed every day power the world’s transportation sector, and liquid fossil fuels account for 94% of the energy supply to the sector.
If the transportation sector is to be successful in reducing its impact and if it is to contribute to the limiting of global warming to less than 2°C, it cannot continue to develop under a business as-usual scenario.
ALSO READ: Radical resource efficiency requires a new mindset - there is no such thing as waste
According to the predictions of the World Business Council Sustainability Development’s Vision 2050 report, universal access to low carbon transport is expected by 2050. An 80 percent reduction in energy use by light-duty vehicles is also forecast, along with a 50 percent drop in energy usage within shipping/freight transportation.
These changes will create challenges and opportunities for all those companies operating within the sector. If suppliers such as AkzoNobel are to respond effectively to these trends, they need to focus on bigger, bolder innovations that can substantially improve sustainability, and deliver better value for customers. The transportation sector needs these sustainable solutions. And if companies are to develop them, they need to recruit the very best people – pioneering chemists and engineers; strategists with acute insight into the markets, needs and global trends that will shape our world. Naturally, businesses need to commit to investing the necessary funds.
Open innovation
It is also important for companies to recognise when they need to work with others. An ‘open innovation’ approach is being employed increasingly by corporations who realise that they can no longer rely solely on internal resources to maintain a competitive edge.
ALSO READ: Auto fuel policy to fuel emission control catalyst demand in India
Organisations need to work up and down the value chains with others who have complementary capabilities to their own - suppliers with whom they can work to develop more sustainable raw materials; customers and end users who can guide them in their market needs and trends; and universities of course that can help them identify emerging sciences that can be developed into useful technologies.
In summary, incremental improvements will not be enough if we are to successfully tackle the sustainability challenges facing the transportation sector. It is only by delivering radical solutions and developing big and bold innovations that we will be able to drive significant change.
Companies that can provide this will ultimately stand to benefit.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
The author is Corporate Director Sustainability and HSE at AkzoNobel
Globally, the transportation sector is expected to continue growing, with a geographic shift of demand and manufacturing to the developing economies. But with this growth, environmental concerns are also increasing. Presently, more than 60% of the 87 million barrels of oil consumed every day power the world’s transportation sector, and liquid fossil fuels account for 94% of the energy supply to the sector.
If the transportation sector is to be successful in reducing its impact and if it is to contribute to the limiting of global warming to less than 2°C, it cannot continue to develop under a business as-usual scenario.
ALSO READ: Radical resource efficiency requires a new mindset - there is no such thing as waste
According to the predictions of the World Business Council Sustainability Development’s Vision 2050 report, universal access to low carbon transport is expected by 2050. An 80 percent reduction in energy use by light-duty vehicles is also forecast, along with a 50 percent drop in energy usage within shipping/freight transportation.
These changes will create challenges and opportunities for all those companies operating within the sector. If suppliers such as AkzoNobel are to respond effectively to these trends, they need to focus on bigger, bolder innovations that can substantially improve sustainability, and deliver better value for customers. The transportation sector needs these sustainable solutions. And if companies are to develop them, they need to recruit the very best people – pioneering chemists and engineers; strategists with acute insight into the markets, needs and global trends that will shape our world. Naturally, businesses need to commit to investing the necessary funds.
Open innovation
It is also important for companies to recognise when they need to work with others. An ‘open innovation’ approach is being employed increasingly by corporations who realise that they can no longer rely solely on internal resources to maintain a competitive edge.
AkzoNobel's Andre Veneman
ALSO READ: Auto fuel policy to fuel emission control catalyst demand in India
Organisations need to work up and down the value chains with others who have complementary capabilities to their own - suppliers with whom they can work to develop more sustainable raw materials; customers and end users who can guide them in their market needs and trends; and universities of course that can help them identify emerging sciences that can be developed into useful technologies.
In summary, incremental improvements will not be enough if we are to successfully tackle the sustainability challenges facing the transportation sector. It is only by delivering radical solutions and developing big and bold innovations that we will be able to drive significant change.
Companies that can provide this will ultimately stand to benefit.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
The author is Corporate Director Sustainability and HSE at AkzoNobel