This paper was presented at the `Shifting modes to get to Kyoto - freight transportation in the new millennium' session. Sweden has been at the forefront in the adoption of innovative approaches to environmentally sound transport both in public policy and in private sector initiatives. At the micro-level, Swedish firms have designed new analytical tools to build environmental and logistics profiles of their freight shipments, and in particular to inventory the associated air emissions. Working through the framework of voluntary corporate environmental management systems (EMS), a number of leading firms - both transport suppliers and transport customers - are now implementing approaches to reduce these environmental impacts. The paper reviews the green procurement model for freight used by a growing number of Swedish companies. It also profiles the experience of three of Sweden's main transport and logistics companies, and of seven companies actively engaged in managing the environmental impacts of their freight transport purchases. Two related initiatives - the Network for Goods Management and the Environment and the environmental label for goods transport - are also reviewed. This Swedish model offers a revealing forecast of potential future market demands and pressures on suppliers that could come to play in North America as awareness and concern of the environmental impacts of transportation grows. It could be one influential aspect of freight transportation in the new millennium. (A)
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