Greening e-commerce: Where to start?

E-commerce is growing rapidly but has been revealing many unsustainable factors, especially negative impacts on the environment. In the context of the entire economy striving to promote green and sustainable growth, greening logistics in e-commerce plays an important role in protecting the environment and moving towards sustainable development.

Top 10 countries with the fastest e-commerce growth rate in the world

From concept While e-commerce is still quite unfamiliar to consumers, in recent years, the growth rate of e-commerce in Vietnam has always been among the top countries in the region and the world, continuously recording outstanding growth at 16-30%/year and the market size has reached 20.5 billion USD in 2023. It is forecasted that in 2024, the market size will exceed 25 billion USD, helping Vietnam enter the top 10 countries with the fastest e-commerce growth rate in the world.

However, the rapid development of e-commerce also brings negative consequences for the environment. According to Ms. Le Hoang Oanh, Director of the Department of E-commerce and Digital Economy, According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade , there are two main stages that have negative impacts on the environment, including: Delivery stage (related to vehicles running on the road that emit large amounts of carbon) and packaging stage (carton boxes, plastic packaging, bubble wrap, foam boxes, disposable plastic products). These negative impacts are even higher in the case of express delivery.

Works at Lazada's sorting center in Hanoi.

Regularly ordering on e-commerce platforms, Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh in Nam Tu Liem District, Hanoi City had to exclaim “too much plastic and nylon packaging” when stores wrapped products. For example, when packaging a cosmetic product, for fear of the product being dented, in addition to the box, the store would insert more nylon and wrap it tightly with tape. “Convenient but too much unnecessary waste,” Ms. Thanh expressed her opinion.

Recognizing this situation, Mr. Nguyen Thanh Hung, Chairman of the Senior Advisory Council of the Vietnam E-commerce Association, said that according to calculations, e-commerce activities in Vietnam in 2023 used 332,000 tons of packaging, of which the volume of plastic packaging of all kinds was 171,000 tons. With an average growth rate of 20-25%/year, the scale of e-commerce in our country in 2030 will be more than 4 times larger than it is now; if there are no strong solutions to change the packaging process of goods, the amount of plastic waste from e-commerce will reach about 800,000 tons.

Regarding transportation, statistics from the Import-Export Department (Ministry of Industry and Trade) show that logistics costs at retail businesses account for a large proportion of the cost price, ranging from 10-20%. In logistics costs, transportation has the highest proportion, about 60-80%. Therefore, optimizing transportation costs not only helps businesses cut costs but also contributes significantly to reducing emissions from transportation activities.

Building an effective green logistics ecosystem

Green logistics transformation in e-commerce is not only an inevitable trend but also a path for sustainable and strong development. “Optimizing transportation costs helps businesses cut costs, as well as significantly contribute to reducing emissions from transportation activities,” Ms. Le Hoang Oanh emphasized.

Green logistics in e-commerce includes optimizing vehicle rotation and transport capacity to reduce empty vehicles, achieving the highest efficiency, and linking transport modes to reduce environmentally unfriendly modes. In addition, prioritizing the use of environmentally friendly materials in product packaging and finding ways to reuse packaging. Applying green logistics solutions brings many benefits to businesses and society.

According to research by Google, Temasek and Bain & Company, optimizing transportation activities in e-commerce such as reducing the distance traveled by delivery vehicles, using recycled and environmentally friendly materials to package goods... will contribute to reducing 30-40% of emissions in this field.

However, according to Ms. Le Hoang Oanh, this transformation requires close cooperation from businesses, the Government and consumers to create an effective green logistics ecosystem, contributing to environmental protection and improving the quality of life.

Enterprises need to proactively apply green logistics solutions, invest in technology, optimize operations, and use environmentally friendly packaging. The government needs to issue mechanisms and policies to support and encourage enterprises to switch to green logistics, build green transportation systems and appropriate infrastructure. Consumers should also support and prioritize enterprises that are committed to protecting the environment, using products with clear origins and environmentally friendly packaging, and joining hands to protect the environment with practical actions.

Currently, Vietnamese enterprises have also promoted greening the chain of operations. For example, Viettel Post Joint Stock Corporation (Viettel Post), during its operation, Viettel Post has applied the model of "mobile post offices". These post offices are designed on trucks, using data sharing technology to connect post offices with each other as well as postmen with post offices. The sender's goods will be sorted and routed directly on the vehicle and the import and export process will be carried out via a mobile application to quickly handle the next steps.

With this model, Viettel Post has cut down on intermediaries, reduced 15% of the transportation distance and the number of shuttle vehicles. Thereby limiting the frequency of vehicle operations, reducing emissions into the environment, limiting the circulation of goods, helping to minimize the need to wrap shockproof plastic layers for postal items... In particular, Viettel Post also deployed a solution to install solar power for the distribution and sorting warehouse system to provide energy for lighting equipment, air conditioners...

Source: https://baolangson.vn/xanh-hoa-thuong-mai-dien-tu-bat-dau-tu-dau-5033088.html