Co-modality; an intermodal key to sustain green logistics

Conference on Climate Change, Green Logistics, Sustainable Mobility 6th –7th March 2008, Valencia “Co-modality: an intermodal key to sustain green logistics”, this was the title of the conference that Europlatforms, the European association of freight villages, organized in Valencia from 6 to 7 March together with EIA (European Intermodal Association), ITENE (Packaging, Transport and Logistics Research Institute) and the European funded project PROMIT. The main objective of the conference was to provide ideas and solutions from policymakers, researchers and industry regarding the best way to address the challenges created by the 'sustainable intermodal transport' concept. More than 200 attendees have taken part to the event where about 30 speakers have tackled the main issue of the conference on different point of view. Representatives from the European Commission and Parliament and from the USA reported to the audience their engagement in term of climate change, sustainable mobility, green logistics. The title of the conference is indicative of the main issue of all presentations that mainly focussed the urgency to set out a common understanding within all interested parties, based on the evidence that intermodal transport and green logistics will be the new drivers for future innovations, job creations, CO2 reductions and energy conservation while creating a competitive advantage for the Europe’s manufacturing and transport industry. Some of the most important transport and logistics associations and companies have raised their worries about the environment danger while proving, in a concrete way, that they are already moving towards greener performances.

This conference has represented for Europlatforms just the beginning of a longer engagement in the transport sustainability. The European association of freight villages will go on promoting solutions for managing the growth of transport demand and trying to approach in a systematic way the environmental aspects that the adoption of any new transport strategy will inevitably generate.