The environment is polluted by the activities of a number of different companies. The gases emitted during the transportation and forwarding of goods also contribute to the pollution.
The “Green” companies
The green companies, including member companies in the Association for forwarders throughout Europe take extra precautions to lower the pollution of the environment resulting from their activities. When picking the best routes for their clients, they choose the shortest ones, and also use environmentally friendly packing, and others. This way, the forwarding services have the minimum negative environmental impact possible when performing International freight forwarding.
Environmental protection taxes
The environmental protection taxes adopted by the European Union are based on physical units (or proxies of physical units) which have been proven to have a negative impact on the environment. These taxes are collected in the following areas:
- Transport
- Resources
- Energy
- Pollution
The environmental tax which is particularly pertinent for freight forwarders Europe is the tax on transportation because it is the basis of their activity and services they offer.
Calculating the proceeds from environmental taxes
The different member countries of the EU present their data to Eurostat, and based on this data, the proceeds from collected environmental taxes are being calculated. When the data regarding economic transactions is being presented, it contains not only the investments and the costs, but also the cost of pollution prevention and for combatting any pollution which has occurred.
Lower taxes for “green” companies
The purpose of the environmental taxes is to stimulate the green attitude towards the world which surrounds us. An example of this attitude is the daily practice of the IFA member companies which comply with the principle for reducing pollution in the area of the international freight services Europe.
And conversely, higher environmental taxes are applied to companies which do not take proper precautions to reduce the pollution.
The implementation of the environmental taxes in the EU contributes to increasing the attention of the different companies in various spheres towards more environmentally friendly activities and lesser pollution of the air, earth and water.
Components of the environmental taxes
The main components of the environmental taxes are for the energy and water used. In some European countries, such as the Netherlands, taxes are added for other components contributing greatly for the constant environmental pollution.
A tax for the utilization of coal – it has been proven that the use of coal as a fuel has a huge impact on environmental pollution. The taxes imposed for the use of coal as an energy source are for stimulating the restriction of the use of this type of energy source.
The tax on energy – with the reduction of the energy use comes the reduction of the pollution caused by the different companies. The search for the optimal routes and storage solutions is one of the main principles of the international freight forwarders members of IFA.
The tax on vehicles – all vehicles, especially the heavy ones, which are commonly used by forwarding companies use fuel. When “green” vehicles are used which are fueled with environmentally friendly fuel, the freight forwarding company using them is freed from these environmental taxes. The use of eco-friendly fuel is a basic principle of the forwarders throughout Europe.
The taxes on packaging are for stimulating the use of recyclable, reusable and green packaging. Freight forwarders Europe comply to the principles for using environmentally friendly and reusable packaging
Consolidation of the services in groupage transport
The Groupage transport service provides a combined convenience for forwarding small packages, often without the need for waiting for the collection of the necessary volume of packages or without incurring large costs for forwarding incomplete containers in the cases when the fright needs to be transported in short terms.
The member companies of the European network for logistics are responsible for forwarding small packages to the European countries, as part of the consolidated freights.