Flexible e-commerce solutions can help clear the air

Flexible e-commerce solutions can help clear the air

Frontier’s Public Policy team contributed to a new study by Accenture analysing the potential impact of micro-fulfilment centres (MFCs) on traffic congestion and emissions in London, Chicago, and Sydney.

To read the full report, published today, please click here.

MFCs store inventory and goods closer to customers in convenient suburban locations, speeding up last-mile deliveries and enabling in-person pick-up of parcels. MFCs are small, urban centres which can include in-store click and collect points, automated locker storage facilities, and stand-alone micro-warehouse facilities.

The economic model developed by Frontier shows that using MFCs across London, Chicago and Sydney for half of the e-commerce orders in those cities could lower delivery-related emissions by 17%-26% by 2025. This would be a result of greater efficiency in delivering next-day and same-day orders, and from delivery replacing some of the longer and more polluting consumer shopping trips taken by car.

Of the three cities included in the study, London would likely see the largest overall delivery traffic reduction from the use of MFCs—13%, equating to about 320 million fewer miles (520 million fewer kilometres) travelled by delivery vehicles.

As the world journeys towards carbon neutrality and improved sustainability, flexible logistics solutions for e-commerce not only have operational benefits, but also simultaneously create significant positive environmental and societal impact, according to the study.

We have also been looking at the impact of Covid on the workplace, which you can read about here and our telecoms team have explored the impact smart cities could have on climate change – read about that here.

For more information please contact media@frontier-economics.com, or call +44 (0)20 7031 7000.