The Kent-based Freight Transport Association has welcomed Government support for its carbon reduction plan.

The Department for Transport’s (DfT) Freight Carbon Review underlined the need to work with the industry to improve freight’s carbon performance along the lines of the FTA’s Logistics Carbon Reduction Scheme (LCRS).

That scheme was endorsed by the Government in 2011 and the FTA, based in Tunbridge Wells, said that over the last three years, it has shown that the industry was capable of voluntarily recording and reporting carbon emissions without the need for extra taxes or regulation.

The scheme set a reduction target for the carbon intensity of freight operations by 8% by 2015.

Rachael Dillon, the FTA’s climate change policy manager, said: “We welcome the Department’s decision to continue to work with industry on carbon reduction rather than introducing regulation.”

But the Government wants to see more progress from parts of the industry outside the scheme.

Ms Dillon added: “It is not just FTA but logistics companies themselves that have developed a workable carbon reporting scheme for industry and we encourage those who have not already done so to join the LCRS and ensure that a voluntary approach to carbon reduction continues.”

Set up in late 2009 by 12 leading logistics companies, the LCRS is a voluntary initiative to record, report and reduce carbon emissions from freight transport. The Freight Carbon Review recorded progress of a scheme that more than 80 logistics companies have now joined.

Member companies are undertaking a wide range of operational measures, including driver training and fuel performance monitoring.