The Southwark Climate Collective (SCC) Programme is a pioneering UKSPF-funded project, led by Better Bankside Business Improvement District (BID), aimed at addressing climate change through innovative and sustainable practices across the freight, supply chain, energy and waste sectors. Project partners include Team London Bridge BID, Elephant & Castle Business Forum, The Blue Bermondsey and Southwark Council. The programme focuses on reducing carbon emissions and improving air quality in the Southwark area by implementing data-driven recommendations and engaging local businesses in sustainable practices. Steer is the proud technical partner for the freight workstream, building upon our valuable knowledge of smaller organisations and their delivery and servicing requirements.
How we helped
The freight workstream involved conducting audits of freight activities from a selection of participating Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) across different business sectors to establish a baseline of their freight practices. Businesses logged their delivery, collection, and servicing activities for a specified period, and the data collected was used to identify potential recommendations for reducing emissions based on our specialist knowledge. Steer developed a bespoke digital tool to allow businesses to collect data quickly and across a range of different metrics, to allow different emissions (CO2e, NOx and PM10) to be calculated.
Based on the audit results, businesses then received tailored recommendations from Steer grouped into themes such as reduce, remode, retime, and reroute freight journeys. These recommendations aimed to optimise freight activities and reduce emissions.
After a period of implementing the recommendations, a follow-up audit was then conducted to quantify any changes in emissions and assess the effectiveness of our initial recommendations. The freight workstream achieved a significant reduction in trips with a 6% cohort-wide decrease in freight activity between the two audit periods (marginally lower than the 10% workstream target). This potentially improved air quality and reduced carbon emissions in the Southwark area. More important, Steer’s efforts enhanced engagement and collaboration with local businesses to promote sustainable freight practices. Steer further undertook a 3-part training series to further support and upskill a wider group of businesses regarding sustainable freight for maximum programme impact.
Steer further undertook an evaluation aspect. The programme faced challenges in data collection and engagement with some of the businesses. However, proactive solutions suggested by Steer and continuous improvement efforts should hopefully lead to better outcomes in subsequent iterations of the programme, if funding became available.
The SCC programme has successfully demonstrated the potential for data-driven recommendations to reduce carbon emissions and improve air quality. By engaging local businesses and providing tailored recommendations, the programme has made significant strides in promoting sustainable practices to SMEs and addressing climate change.
Why Steer?
Steer, with its wealth of experience and technical expertise, is more than just a consultant. We're active participants throughout project delivery, and our specialist knowledge of goods movement trends helps us navigate through the complexities of the freight industry to provide robust, resilient and cutting-edge advice to a range of different organisations. We research, design, implement and evaluate solutions that better manage the impact of freight and servicing activity on our streets, water, rail and aviation networks. We share with stakeholders our expertise in sustainability and technical know-how about how transport networks function to provide the best advice to our clients.
For more information about our urban freight and logistics offer and related projects across the UK, please contact Fiona Jenkins, Ali Memory or Christa McArdle (Christa.McArdle@steergroup.com)
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