Influential Economist Calls on Logistics Sector to Pioneer Move to Hydrogen Fuelled Transportation

New York, NY (PRWEB) March 20, 2006

An influential economist has called on the Global Institute of Logistics, and the whole logistics industry, to play a pioneering role in the move to hydrogen-fueled transportation.

Jeremy Rifkin, founder of Washington-based think-tank the Foundation on Economic Trends, and author of 'The Hydrogen Economy', is convinced that the emergence of a new hydrogen-based energy regime will end global warming, debt in the developing world, and geo-political tension in the Middle East.

He told the Logistics Pilot Forum in Zaragoza, Spain, last week that the logistics industry had the mission and the duty to be an early adopter of the new energy, pressing manufacturers of ships, trains and road vehicles to offer hydrogen-powered products.

With an important international industry such as logistics in the vanguard, he said the technology required to extract hydrogen — he advocates using renewable energy such as solar power and bio fuels — would become affordable all over the world.

This would make global trade — in which currently only 25 per cent of the world’s population participates — available to all. And with energy available to all, tension over remaining oil resources would evaporate, he argued.

After the event, Mr Rifkin told the Global Institute of Logistics that governments, and bodies such as the European Commission, would subsidize logistics companies' efforts to move to hydrogen.

He called on the institute and other think tanks to help him take the argument to the commissioner in charge of transport, Jacques Barrot, and to the president of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso.

During a recent visit to Finland, Mr Barrot said: “The continuous rise of the oil price is a powerful argument for reducing transport dependence on fossil fuels. Member states’ cooperation is needed to strengthen the energy efficiency of transport.”

Mr Rifkin said in Zaragoza that there were impressive developments in Japan and in California too.

He added: “The logistics industry can lead in this. And future generations will look back and say your industry in the twenty-first century made a very important contribution to reducing global warming, to reducing debt in the developing world, and to diffusing the geo-political tension in the Middle East.”

A full report of Mr Rifkin’s talk is available on the Global Institute of Logistics website at http://www.globeinst.org

The institute is keen for logistics professionals all over the world to share their opinions on this important matter. It is asking for their co-operation in presenting the argument to political leaders, as Mr Rifkin has urged.

About Global Institute of Logistics

The Institute acts as an advocacy body for the third party logistics industry globally and to that end works with shippers to assist them in understanding the challenges faced in outsourcing the logistics process. Through its Gfifty program the Institute researches standards in key verticals and territories to establish the world's leading 3PLs and uses case studies drawn from these 'Best in Class' recipients to support this process and its advocacy work.

The Institute serves its members by providing the platform for discussion and debate on the issues affecting the third party logistics industry, both regionally and globally.

Membership is drawn from the world's 3rd party logistics community and is by invitation. The Institute acts as an intelligence-gathering agency and disseminates this information in the form of daily news reports and briefings via the website http://www.globeinst.org . The Institute is also a learning centre for a growing Community of third party logistics providers who wish to contribute to, and participate in forums and discussion groups on aspects of running a best in class organization.

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