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 transportation methods, 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. This data provides valuable insights into the progress and effectiveness of sustainability initiatives by mode.
Intermodal transportation is the most efficient mode of transportation, offering the lowest emissions intensity. In contrast, truckload and LTL (less-than-truckload) shipping have significantly higher emissions. For shippers aiming to reduce their network’s carbon footprint, transitioning OTR (over-the-road) shipments to rail or intermodal and consolidating smaller LTL shipments into full truckloads are practical and impactful strategies.
Emissions intensity by industry
Emissions intensity measures the volume of lifecycle emissions produced against a measure of business output. This data provides valuable insights into the progress and effectiveness of sustainability initiatives by industry.
Paper & Packaging and Food & Beverage shippers tend to have the highest emissions intensity, followed by Consumer Packaged Goods and Chemicals. Durable Goods spiked in April 2025 due to market conditions. Emissions intensity is influenced by several factors, including transportation mode, energy and equipment type, load weight, and 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 shippers have widely adopted SmartWay carriers, whereas Paper and Packaging shippers show no adoption. 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
As the federal government pivots away from sustainability, states will likely serve as the primary accelerators of emissions reduction efforts and alternative energy markets. However, economic, geographic, and infrastructure factors will influence the adoption of alternative energies. Notably, natural gas, especially renewable natural gas (RNG), is receiving greater attention because it is not geographically constrained or limited by infrastructure development. Renewable diesel and heavy-duty electric vehicles are gaining traction as well. The momentum behind alternative energy continues to gain ground as businesses realize the benefit 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.
28+ million shipments
$32 billion in transportation spend
15+ billion commercial miles
2 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.