Transportation Sustainability Indices
Best-in-class shippers are setting the standard on transportation emissions intensity and miles driven with SmartWay carriers by industry. Powered by dynamic, shipper-transacted data, Breakthrough's sustainability indices let you measure your network’s performance—guiding smarter decisions for a sustainable future.
Sustainability indices set the benchmark for improvement
Transportation sustainability indices serve as essential tools for measuring and benchmarking environmental performance. They highlight critical data points that guide progress toward science based targets, helping companies uncover areas for improvement. These transportation indices also provide a solid framework for tracking advancements and effectively communicating results to stakeholders.
Emissions intensity by mode
Tracks sustainability progress across modes, helping identify which modes are most efficient and where improvements are needed.
Emissions intensity by industry
Highlights emissions reduction efforts across industries, offering insights into how sectors are advancing toward sustainability goals.
SmartWay Carriers by industry
Measures industry adoption of efficient carriers, showcasing progress in reducing environmental impact through smarter logistics choices.
Emissions intensity by mode
Emissions intensity measures the volume of lifecycle emissions produced against a measure of business output, in this case, measuring emissions produced by moving one ton of goods one mile. This data provides valuable insights into the progress and effectiveness of sustainability initiatives by mode.
Rail stands out as the most efficient mode of land transportation, offering a low emissions intensity of just 0.025945 kg CO2e per ton-mile. In contrast, over-the-road (OTR) options like truckload and less-than-truckload (LTL) have significantly higher intensities, at 0.141481 and 0.173913, respectively. For shippers aiming to reduce their network’s carbon footprint, transitioning OTR shipments to rail or intermodal, which has an average emissions intensity of 0.037574, presents a clear, data-backed path to sustainability. Furthermore, consolidating smaller LTL shipments into full truckloads is another practical and impactful strategy to lower overall emissions.
Emissions intensity by industry
Emissions intensity measures the volume of lifecycle emissions produced against a measure of business output, in this case, measuring emissions produced by moving one ton of goods one mile. This data provides valuable insights into the progress and effectiveness of sustainability initiatives by industry.
Durable goods continues to have the highest emissions intensity, measured at 0.139883 kg of CO2e per ton-mile. However, it shows early signs of a marginal decline in emissions intensity, indicating potential progress in reducing its environmental impact. In contrast, the paper and packaging (0.13115) and chemicals (0.128253) industries are experiencing upward trends in emissions intensity. Food and beverage (0.116783) and retail (0.116223) industries follow, exhibiting similar emissions intensity levels for moving goods. Notably, consumer packaged goods stand out as the most environmentally efficient sector, maintaining the lowest emissions intensity at 0.088205 kg of CO2e per ton-mile. These variations are influenced by several key factors, including transportation mode choices, energy and equipment types, typical load weights, and overall carrier efficiency.
Miles driven with SmartWay Carriers by industry
The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) SmartWay program measures, benchmarks, and tracks a carrier’s efficiency and fuel economy to provide a score that reflects the carrier’s environmental impact. This data offers valuable insights into how each industry is increasing its adoption of carriers participating in the SmartWay program.
Durable goods and food and beverage shippers have embraced SmartWay carriers, with an adoption rate of 85% and 80%, respectively. In contrast, chemicals shippers show the lowest adoption rate at just 57%. Carriers are encouraged to join the SmartWay program to obtain a precise score that reflects their environmental performance, enhancing their appeal to shippers seeking efficient, sustainable transportation partners. Similarly, shippers should prioritize collaborating with SmartWay carriers to support those investing in cleaner fleets, contributing to progress toward science-based sustainability targets.
Stay informed of sustainability trends
States are serving as the primary policy-driven accelerators of emissions reduction efforts, employing mechanisms such as grants, tax policies, and emissions regulations to improve the economics of alternative energies. Notably, New Mexico will be the newest state to implement a clean fuel standard, with its Clean Transportation Fuel Program set to go into effect no later than July 1, 2026. This will create new market opportunities for alternative energies, complementing similar programs in Washington, Oregon, and California. Alongside state policies, the 45Z Clean Fuel Production Tax Credit will likely bolster alternative energy production, once full IRS guidance is available.
Aside from policy, economic, geographic, and infrastructure factors influence the adoption of alternative energies. Notably, natural gas, especially renewable natural gas (RNG), is receiving greater attention because it is not as geographically constrained or limited by infrastructure development relative to other alternative energies. Renewable diesel and heavy-duty electric vehicles are gaining traction as well. The momentum behind alternative energies continues to gain ground as businesses realize the benefits of fuel diversification, cost stability, and emissions reduction.
About the Breakthrough Dataset
The Breakthrough ecosystem is one of the cleanest and most robust sets of transportation data in the U.S.
46.5 million shipments
$35 billion in transportation spend
16.5+ billion commercial miles
2.5 billion gallons of diesel fuel
Meet shippers reducing their carbon footprint
Our insights have empowered shippers to streamline operations, lower costs, and work toward achieving ambitious science-based targets. Shippers using CleanMile achieve an average 6% reduction in emissions intensity (kgCO2E/ton-mile) during their first year.
Compare your network to the industry
Take the next step in your sustainability journey. Assess your network data in relation to industry benchmarks.