In common with many other areas of human endeavour, ‘greenness’ became a catchword in
the transportation industry in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It grew out of the growing
awareness of environmental problems, and in particular with well-publicised issues such as
acid rain, CFCs and global warming. The World Commission on Environment and
Development Report (1987), with its establishment of environmental sustainability as a goal
for international action, gave green issues a significant boost in political and economic
arenas. The transportation industry is a major contributor to environmental degradation
through its modes, infrastructures and traffics (Banister and Button 1993; Whitelegg 1993).
The developing field of logistics was seen by many as an opportunity for the transportation
industry to present a more environmentally-friendly face. During the early 1990s there was
an outpouring of studies, reports and opinion pieces suggesting how the environment could
be incorporated in the logistics industry (Muller 1991; Murphy et al. 1994; Tanja 1991). It
was reported that the 1990s would be ‘the decade of the environment’ (Kirkpatrick 1990).