YRC Worldwide Inc. announced that it has been awarded the highest ranking from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s SmartWay voluntary emissions program for the fifth consecutive year.
YRC Worldwide is a charter partner of the program and, along with one of its subsidiaries, now has received the SmartWay Excellence Award twice. EPA says the program, which has been in existence since 2004, has yielded significant results for the environment and transportation and logistics industry, including about six million tons of carbon dioxide reductions during 2008.
“True to the nature of our critical role in the supply chain, the SmartWay Partnership enables us to work with our vendors and customers to achieve reductions in greenhouse gas emissions,” says Mike Kelley, chief sustainability officer at YRC Worldwide, based in Overland Park, Kan. “SmartWay is a progressive, positive and pragmatic program for the transportation sector. The EPA SmartWay team has provided valuable leadership, practices, programs and data that have led to true environmental progress for our company and industry. The program exemplifies the power of partnership between the transportation industry and the EPA.”
YRC Worldwide recently sponsored the first-ever SmartWay International Summit, which welcomed supply chain professionals from 12 countries to learn about the greenhouse gas reduction benefits of the SmartWay program. The company also sponsored “Triple Bottom Line” author Andrew Savitz to speak to the conference. Savitz is an internationally recognized leader in the area of corporate social responsibility and its link to environmental sustainability.
Savitz applauded the news that YRC Worldwide once again was awarded the highest SmartWay score. “YRC Worldwide understands that its investment in sustainability benefits all stakeholders, including employees, customers, business partners, the communities in which it operates,” he says.
YRC Worldwide says the recent integration of the company’s two major brands into YRC is one of the more recent examples of ongoing commitment to leadership in sustainability. “Our new network is built for extreme efficiency, creating higher lane densities and lower empty miles,” says Mike Smid, YRC Inc. president and YRC Worldwide chief operations officer. “We expect that our integrated network will reduce C02 emissions by 100,000 tons annually. That increased efficiency is good for our customers, our company and the environment.”
YRC Worldwide says it is on a path to make further improvements in reducing its greenhouse gas emissions in 2009: The company is in the process of upgrading its over-the-road fleet with fuel-efficient tires that improve efficiency and reduce emissions by two percent to four percent; it continues to test a limited number of diesel-electric hybrids in the Northeast; and longstanding practices include governing speeds at 63 mph, severe restrictions on idling and use of intermodal lanes.
