Sustainability in Trucking Snapshot Report: October 2022

In the late summer of 2022, Convoy surveyed 588 small and mid-sized trucking companies across the United States to collect a snapshot of sustainability in trucking. Survey participants include dispatchers, drivers, and owner-operators. All the results are self-reported by the participants. Download the Sustainability in Trucking Snapshot Report to see the full analysis for sustainability trends in trucking.

Survey highlights include key trends in trucking and new data insights:

Minorities continue to bear the worst impacts of climate change

• The trend persists from the March 2022 trucking survey, which recognized that minority carriers are experiencing disproportionate impacts of climate change on their communities.
• When asked to what degree climate change was affecting their communities, 84% of Asian Americans, 62% of Black Americans, and 76% of Latinos said it was slightly, moderately, or strongly impacting their community. Only 48% of white respondents reported feeling an impact of climate change to the same extent.

Personal motivations drive pressures to reduce carbon emissions

• Carriers reported awareness of the environmental impact of carbon emissions as the top reason for reducing carbon emissions. This diverges from the March 2022 survey results, where government regulations were cited as the top reason, likely due to the SEC Climate Disclosure Rule being proposed at the time.
• As inflation continues to rise and gas prices remain at near record highs, reduced operating costs as a top reason for reducing carbon emissions has increased 7% compared to the March survey. 
• Carriers who feel pressure to reduce carbon emissions in their business are 50% more likely to be tracking or reporting them in their business today.

Carriers are willing to provide data to understand emissions

• 45% of carriers are willing to provide fuel efficiency data of trucks to Convoy to track carbon emissions. 
• 22% of carriers are currently tracking and reporting carbon emissions today.

Soaring inflation doesn’t stop carriers from wanting to buy new trucks – including alternative fuel options

• Nearly 70% of survey respondents are planning to make a new truck purchase within the next 3 years.
• Of that 70%, over one-third are considering purchasing an alternative fuel truck.
• The top barrier to purchasing an alternative fuel vehicle is the high cost of these trucks.

Predictable schedules are important for truck drivers

• For the first time, we added childcare responsibilities and caretaking for adults as options for demographic self-identification. Truck driving is a demanding job and requires long hours away from home. Over half of respondents have children and one-third are a caretaker for an adult.

Download the Sustainability in Trucking Snapshot Report to see the full data for sustainability trends in trucking.

Sustainability at Convoy

We are focused on reducing the billions of waste in trucking and improving the lives of truck drivers. Learn more about Convoy’s commitment to supply chain sustainability.