Transport and logistics
Vehicles that transport deliveries to and from our production plants also have an environmental impact. Daimler’s goal in this area is to minimize the emissions they produce by optimizing the logistics systems involved and by using rail and ship transport. In 2010 approximately 3.7 million tonnes of commodities related to production in our German car and commercial vehicle plants and at the Group’s facility in Vitoria, Spain, were transported by trucks over a total of 135 million kilometers (83,885,111 miles)(not counting door-to-door deliveries). Based on the current handbook on emission factors for road traffic (HBEFA 3.1), this amounts to approximately 100,650 tonnes (2009: 83,070) of CO2 emitted into the atmosphere, which corresponds to around four percent of the total CO2 emissions generated through our production activities at all the plants receiving these deliveries. The environment is also indirectly impacted by business trips and employees’ daily commutes. Business trips from German locations resulted in the emission of 740 tonnes of CO2 from trains and 15,000 tons of CO2 from planes. Whenever feasible, we therefore replace business trips with conference calls and video or online conferences. Employees working in Sindelfingen and Stuttgart receive discounted yearly passes for the public transit system.
