Working Groups

Clean Cargo Working Group

The Clean Cargo Working Group is working to promote sustainable product transportation. Clean Cargo historically focused since 2001 on ocean freight. However, Clean Cargo extended its focus to include international transportation through all modes of transport and social aspects of international transport.

Members are leading multinational manufacturers and retailers (shippers), carriers and freight forwarders (carriers). Shippers increasingly include environmental performance of product transport into their corporate footprint, environmental management systems and supplier codes of conduct. Carriers realized their responsibilities as well as opportunities to improve environmental performance of freight transport as an industry. Offering responsible transportation becomes a competitive advantage.

The Clean Cargo Working Group develops voluntary environmental management guidelines and metrics to help evaluate and improve the performance of freight transport. The aim is to integrate product transport into corporate supply chain management.

The Clean Cargo Working Group is an unprecedented partnership that allow cross-industry dialogue and networking. The cooperative and multi-industrial approach enables significant advances in environmental stewardship and sustainability in an otherwise very competitive market.

Documents and Tools

General Information

• Clean Cargo Information Sheet

Environmental Performance Survey

• Press Release (152 KB)
• Environmental Performance Survey Updated, May 2007 (MS Word, 285 KB)
• Shipper Guidance for Calculating Indirect CO2 Emissions from Product Transport(149 KB)

Clean Cargo Member Presentations

• Hapag-Lloyd Presentation (1.6 MB)
• IKEA Presentation (2.3 MB)

Beyond Monitoring

In conjunction with many of its member companies, BSR has created "Beyond Monitoring," a project to create systemic change in supply chains and materially improve the well-being of workers and communities globally. The Beyond Monitoring vision (PDF) rests on four key pillars that must all be present and work together to create sustainable supply chains. These pillars are intended to complement the essential role of some level of continued verification, likely in the form of ongoing strategic monitoring. The four pillars include:

• Internal alignment among commercial, social and environmental objectives of buyers
• Supplier ownership for social and environmental performance
• Worker empowerment that ensures an informed and participatory workplace with an effective worker management relationship
• Public policy framework for creating and enforcing regulatory frameworks that protect workers

The goal of Beyond Monitoring is to collaborate on multi-stakeholder initiatives that tackle the root causes of non-compliance with company codes of conduct and regulations at supplier facilities. By looking at the linkages between the various components, it is possible to suggest solutions for prolonged impact

Phase One: Mapping and Convening

For the first phase of this initiative, BSR will conduct a comprehensive mapping of existing initiatives and facilitate a convening to discuss the learnings and establish next steps. A mapping will allow participating companies to learn from the positive aspects and challenges of existing efforts. BSR will conduct research, interviews and analysis on projects associated with the four key pillars of Beyond Monitoring. Potential subjects may include company efforts, NGO or union initiatives, government or multilateral projects, or multi-stakeholder initiatives. The final report will include descriptions of all the initiatives, as well as analysis.