Logistics provider DHL is using IT as a key part of its commitment to reduce the firm's carbon emissions by 30 per cent by 2020.

The company owns a huge network of vehicles and warehouses, each with its own constantly changing carbon footprint.

Accurate assessment and real-time analysis of this data is vital in assessing the carbon footprint of a supply chain, according to Karl Feilder, chief executive of DHL neutral services.

"In a traditional supply chain you are taking the output of all these different computer systems at various points and then feeding them into another system," he said.

"We are trying to collect all that information at once so our CO2 'footprinting' can be managed automatically."

Accurate information is very important for DHL. If the information is wrong, the company could end up hedge buying fuel at the wrong time, or investing in innovation where it is not needed.

In the case of one of DHL’s customers, DHL found there were as many as 47 companies involved in the end to end supply chain, leaving much space for error in the customer’s analysis of carbon information.

A survey of over 1,000 logistics executives by DHL in conjunction with Oracle and Capgemini found that only 38 per cent of respondents were satisfied with their third-party logistics provider's information technology capabilities.