In every discussion about climate and supply chains, one question keeps resurfacing: how can we move goods in a truly sustainable way?
In Latin America (LATAM), that question takes a sharper form. Trade dependence, infrastructure constraints, and long, complex corridors create a landscape where sustainability begins as a cost challenge and becomes a systems challenge.
A practical way to understand that challenge is through a single metric: emissions intensity – grams of CO₂ per ton-kilometer in shipping or per available ton-kilometer in aviation. It is a measure of discipline – how effectively each unit of cargo moves across a network.
Efficiency first: Why emissions intensity matters
Global frameworks increasingly anchor their climate goals around efficiency metrics. The International Maritime Organization’s 2023 GHG Strategy calls for at least a 40 percent improvement in carbon intensity by 2030 compared with 2008 and sets indicative checkpoints for cutting total GHG emissions by 20 percent (striving for 30 percent) by 2030 and 70 percent (striving for 80 percent) by 2040, with a net zero target “by or around 2050.”
In parallel, the EU’s FuelEU Maritime regulation sets limits on the well-to-wake GHG intensity of energy used on board ships, starting with a 2 percent reduction in 2025 and tightening to an 80 percent reduction by 2050.
In aviation, IATA’s net zero 2050 work and SAF fact sheets consistently use emissions intensity and fuel efficiency indicators as core metrics in the decarbonization pathway.
For operators, emissions intensity is where efficiency, cost, and climate impact converge. Every improvement in route design, aircraft weight, vessel speed, load factor, or network utilization appears immediately in this measure. It turns sustainability into something quantifiable and actionable.
Shipping: Regulation, fuel, and the economics of cleaner miles
Shipping is undergoing a structural shift driven by regulation and economics. The EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) now applies to maritime transport. Under the phase-in rules, companies must surrender allowances for 40 percent of emissions reported for 2024, 70 percent of emissions reported for 2025, and 100 percent of emissions from 2026 onwards.
Alongside this, FuelEU Maritime mandates progressive reductions in the GHG intensity of the energy used on board, again putting efficiency and fuel choice at the center.
These policies apply to any ship calling at European ports, including services connecting LATAM with Europe and Asia, which are critical for agricultural exports, reefer cargo, and manufactured goods.
Fleet technology is already evolving. Analyses based on DNV’s Alternative Fuels Insight show strong growth in orders for ships capable of using alternative fuels, with LNG still leading the orderbook, methanol growing quickly, and early ammonia and hydrogen projects emerging.
For LATAM, these trends are not abstract. Export corridors often combine mountain passes, inland trucking, limited rail infrastructure, port congestion, and long ocean legs. Any friction in that chain increases fuel burn per ton-kilometer. Efficiency becomes both a climate lever and a competitiveness lever.
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Aviation and LATAM cargo: Doing more with every ton-kilometer
In aviation, the transition is shaped by technological and physical constraints. Long-haul fleets will rely on liquid fuels for years, so the near-term focus is operational excellence (OPEX), fleet renewal, and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).
The LATAM Airlines Group embeds its climate agenda in a strategy called “A Necessary Destination,” which includes a path to carbon neutrality by 2050 and a commitment to offset 50 percent of domestic emissions by 2030.
On its climate-change pages, LATAM highlights fuel-efficiency programs, route optimization initiatives, energy management efforts, and SAF development as the core levers of its environmental strategy.
The global context for SAF illustrates the scale of the challenge. IATA and related industry analyses report that SAF production in 2024 reached around 1 million tons, covering roughly 0.3 percent of global jet-fuel demand, even after doubling from 2023.
In this reality, most short-term emissions reductions depend on how well each flight is planned and flown, and how efficiently fleets are used and renewed. Emissions intensity is a direct proxy for the quality of these decisions.
LATAM’s position: Progress under constraint
LATAM faces a demanding operational reality: logistics chains cross uneven infrastructure, long distances, weather-exposed corridors, and macroeconomic volatility. Margins are often tight, meaning volatility is common.
At the same time, SAF typically costs several-times more than conventional jet fuel, and emerging marine fuels require new infrastructure and vessel investments, as underlined by IATA and multiple SAF and shipping-cost assessments. These pressures shape which decarbonization projects move first and at what pace.
Yet the region is advancing. Efficiency programs that stabilize fuel burn help defend margins. Better planning improves reliability along multi-modal corridors. Alignment with IMO, EU, and aviation climate frameworks preserves access to key markets that are progressively integrating climate requirements into trade and transport policy.
LATAM progresses under constraint, and that discipline is becoming a competitive asset.
Principles for leaders: Turning intensity into action
Four principles stand out for leaders navigating this transition:
1. Use emissions intensity as a management metric
Tracking CO₂ per ton-kilometer or per available ton-kilometer anchors sustainability in the same dashboards as cost, reliability, and service quality. It becomes part of operational performance, not a separate narrative.
2. Connect climate objectives with OPEX
Network design, speed, and load-factor policies, coordination at ports and airports, and reduction of dwell times deliver immediate efficiency and lower emissions. These are familiar levers for operations and business process management (BPM) teams.
3. Build collaboration around shared data
Shipping and air freight depend on coordination with terminals, ground handlers, forwarders, and customers. Shared data on schedules, loads, and bottlenecks allows the entire chain to reduce waste and avoid unnecessary movements.
4. Invest where efficiency and resilience overlap
Fleet renewal, digital planning platforms, and advanced analytics often reduce fuel burn, strengthen capacity planning, and improve service resilience at the same time. These investments sit at the intersection of performance and sustainability.
Moving with purpose
Sustainability in logistics becomes tangible when every kilometer and every ton moved follow a deliberate plan. Emissions intensity makes that intent measurable – an indicator of how consistently teams translate planning, alignment, and discipline into cleaner, more efficient operations.
The organizations that treat emissions intensity as a core performance indicator, more than just a side metric, will set the pace of this transition in LATAM and beyond.