Sustainability. Going green. Environmental. Ethical. These are just some of the buzz words we all hear every single day whether it be in normal conversation, the news, at work, or anywhere else. 

Covenant Logistics keeps sustainability and ethics at the forefront of our business and our priorities. The one that wears the sustainability hat and carries the ethical torch here is our very own Matt McLelland, VP of Sustainability and Innovation. This May, Matt spoke center stage at the Advanced Clean Transportation Expo (ACT Expo) in beautiful Long Beach, California alongside Terry Travis, Managing Partner, and Co-Founder of EVNoire – Mobility Intelligence Consulting Group. 

The dynamic duo spoke on Essentials of Sustainability and ESG (Environment, Social and Governance) in Transportation to a crowd of around 8,000 attendees (a RECORD-BREAKING year for the ACT Expo). Their portion, the first in a three-part series, “introduced participants to sustainability and helped identify the environmental, social and business impacts that transportation companies must manage.” (https://bit.ly/3N7Faum) 

In addition to working with Terry to provide major insight into the impacts the transportation industry has on sustainability, he was also part of a 4-person Executive Roundtable where they discussed insights into how they not only set an aggressive sustainability goal, but how they are now implanting their plans and leveraging them to drive innovation, new partnerships, and improved customer and supplier relationships. These sustainability heavy hitters included:

• Craig Harper, Chief Sustainability Officer, EVP, J.B. Hunt Transport, Inc.
• Matt McLelland, VP of Sustainability and Innovation, Covenant Logistics
• Ari Silkey, GM, North America Surface Transportation, Amazon
• Debbie Kalish, Director, Enterprise Sustainability and ESG Initiatives, American Tire Distributors

The executives touched on how their fleets are investing in zero- and ultra-low emission technologies and renewable fuels to meet their sustainability and ESG commitments, and how they see the ESG initiatives further accelerating the market for advance clean transportation technologies and fuels in the decades ahead. (https://bit.ly/3kWnRAr) 

The insight into the sustainability practices and promises of these massive companies will prove invaluable for so many in the transportation industry as we continue to ramp up our initiatives to have a cleaner, greener, more sustainable earth.