ESG in freight transport: how to apply it to your fleet

The road freight transport sector accounts for about 65% of all goods movement in Brazil. This economic weight comes with an environmental and social cost that regulations, customers and investors are no longer willing to ignore.

Especially for heavy vehicles, ESG has been one of the main measures for aligning fleets with sustainable, responsible and better-documented actions.

This acronym, ESG, which stands for “Environmental,” “Social” and “Governance,” represents a set of practices and actions aimed at transforming the company's routine so it becomes an administratively, socially and environmentally responsible organization.

Explore the following:

• What ESG in transportation is
• What the 4 pillars of ESG are
• Why practice ESG in fleet management
• What ANTT's ESG Cycle is
• How to implement ESG in freight transport
  Fleet ESG and management solutions: where they connect

What is ESG in transportation?

This term emerged in 2004 (in a Global Compact and World Bank publication), and “ESG” stands for Environmental, Social and Governance, referring to environmental, social and governance matters.

In the context of road freight transport, the concept refers to the set of practices guiding operational management using criteria that go beyond immediate financial results. Corporate sustainability starts from a system of values and a responsible way of conducting business, including responsibilities related to human rights, labor, the environment and fighting corruption.

In practice, ESG in transportation means answering three questions at the same time:

• Environmental: what is my fleet's impact on the environment? Am I controlling emissions, tire disposal and fuel consumption?
• Social: how do I treat my drivers and employees? Do I respect working hours, offer decent conditions and keep track of operational risks?
• Governance: are my processes organized, traceable and transparent? Do I have clear fleet policies, fine control and up-to-date documentation?

What sets ESG apart from a list of best practices is the intention to make these criteria measurable and continuous, rather than just isolated year-end actions. With this approach, it is possible to understand the company's sustainability level and its potential for improvements and investment.

What are the 4 pillars of ESG?

Although the ESG acronym has three letters, many specialists and organizations already work with four pillars, including the economic and financial pillar as a separate dimension. Understanding this division helps better structure implementation within a carrier.

1 – Environmental (E)

It is the most visible pillar and, in transportation, the most regulated. This pillar concerns company matters that may directly or indirectly affect the environment, such as vehicle emissions of CO₂ and other pollutant gases and fuel consumption.

In transportation, tire and waste disposal is also one of the main concerns. So are preventive maintenance that reduces failures on the road (and the risk of soil and water contamination in rollovers involving hazardous cargo), and gradual fleet renewal with more efficient vehicles or those powered by alternative fuels.

2 – Social (S)

The social part of ESG mainly deals with team and people management. Everything related to the well-being of fleet employees falls within this pillar.

In transportation, this starts with the driver: working hours management, working conditions, safe and economical driving training, and monitoring operational risks on the road.

But it goes further, including supplier relationships, workforce diversity and the impact of operations on communities along the routes.

3 – Governance (G)

The governance pillar covers a company's administrative side, meaning everything related to the internal organization of processes and finances. Governance supports the other two pillars: without organized processes, environmental and social actions are scattered and difficult to prove.

This includes measures such as a documented fleet policy, fine control, salary and benefits management, auditable processes, and accessible, traceable maintenance and inspection records. In sustainability disclosures, governance processes, controls and procedures help monitor, manage and oversee risks and opportunities related to the topic.

4 – Economic and financial

Incorporated by more recent frameworks, this pillar recognizes that sustainability without financial viability cannot be sustained. It covers efficient operating cost management, CPK (cost per kilometer) control, analysis of returns on technology investments and the company's ability to remain competitive in the long term.

In transportation, it is directly connected to the environmental pillar: reducing fuel consumption and increasing tire useful life provide sustainability and savings at the same time.

Why practice ESG in fleet management?

The most direct answer: because the benefits are concrete and measurable, not just reputational.

Reducing operating costs

Preventive maintenance, fuel consumption control and increased tire useful life are ESG practices and also the main levers for reducing costs in a fleet. The logic is the same: taking good care of the asset reduces waste.

Access to credit and green financing

Banks and investment funds already apply ESG filters when granting credit to the transportation sector. Companies with documented practices have access to financing lines with more favorable terms, because sustainability risks and opportunities can affect cash flow, access to financing and the cost of capital.

Competitiveness in contracts

Shippers in the retail, food and chemical segments are including ESG criteria in their carrier approval processes. Those who do not meet them are starting to lose ground.

Attracting and retaining drivers

The sector faces a chronic shortage of qualified drivers. Companies with better working conditions, training programs and respect for working hours have lower turnover rates, which also reduces recruitment and training costs.

Risk management

Accidents on the road, cargo leaks, labor irregularities and improper waste disposal generate financial and legal liabilities. ESG, when well implemented, is a system for preventing these risks.

Promoting a more sustainable world

When applied to fleets, sustainability can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, decrease fossil fuel consumption and contribute to preserving natural resources.

This can be done by using more efficient, less polluting vehicles, implementing policies to reduce fuel consumption and using renewable energy sources in the operational routine.

Helping reduce natural resource exploitation

Sustainable fleet management through ESG practices can also contribute to reducing natural resource exploitation. This is because adopting less polluting vehicles can reduce demand for fossil fuels, which are finite and non-renewable resources.

In addition, preventive maintenance increases vehicle useful life, reducing the need for fleet renewal and, consequently, the demand for new resources.

Another factor affected by the preventive routine is a reduction in road accidents and truck rollovers. Both situations could contaminate soil and water in important regions with hazardous or chemical products.

Managing fleets more efficiently

ESG can also help manage fleets more efficiently. This can be done by adopting fleet management technologies, reliable operational records and indicators that make it possible to keep track of the operational routine and identify optimization opportunities.

Besides these, other types of systems, such as tire management and maintenance systems, are fundamental to visibility and proper management of each department in transportation operations.

For example, all Prolog solutions contribute to ESG practices in a vehicle fleet through inspection records, individual tire control and maintenance organization.

Reducing environmental impacts and natural disasters

Proper management of fleet-generated waste and the implementation of accident and natural disaster prevention measures are fundamental for a company to be considered aligned with ESG.

These same practices also help identify opportunities to reduce energy and water consumption, which can lead to lower operating costs, another major benefit for your operation!

Promoting diversity and inclusion in fleets

In the current landscape, transportation is predominantly made up of men. That is why an ESG strategy (in Portuguese) can also be used to promote diversity and inclusion in fleets.

This can happen by adopting equal opportunity policies, promoting diversity in gender, race and sexual orientation, and implementing measures to ensure the inclusion of people with disabilities.

Diversity and inclusion can bring benefits to the company, such as improved creativity and innovation.

What is ANTT's ESG Cycle?

The Ciclo ESG, or ESG Cycle, is the official program of Brazil's National Land Transport Agency, ANTT, for the road freight transport segment. Launched in 2022, the program recognizes carriers that adopt practices aligned with environmental, social and governance criteria through the Selo ESG para Transporte Rodoviário, its ESG Seal for Road Transport.

Participation in the program is voluntary and open to carriers registered with ANTT. To obtain the seal, companies undergo an assessment based on indicators structured by the agency itself, considering aspects such as:

• Documentation compliance and compliance with sector standards;
• Driver working conditions and accident rates;
• Adoption of practices that reduce the environmental impact of operations;
• Management transparency and corporate governance.

The seal serves as a recognizable competitive advantage in the market, especially in qualification processes with shippers and large customers that already require ESG criteria from their logistics suppliers.

To keep track of updated criteria and the application process, the official reference is the ANTT portal (in Portuguese).

How do you implement ESG in freight transport?

Some sustainable fleet actions, such as vehicle renewal, use of technology systems, driver training and preventive vehicle maintenance, should already be part of your routine and can fit within each of these pillars. The challenge is to organize, document and measure:

Environmental pillar: what to put into practice

Social pillar: what to put into practice

Governance pillar: what to put into practice

Fleet ESG and management solutions: where they connect

Much of what ESG requires of your operation already exists within fleet management tools. What is generally missing is structured recordkeeping and continuous monitoring of this data.

Prolog's Tire Management, for example, controls each tire's individual history, including wear, retreading, life cycle and cost per tire, generating data that feeds CPK analysis and supports disposal decisions.

The Electronic Checklist records digital inspections on a mobile phone and can automatically open work orders based on what the person responsible for the inspection reported, supporting environmental compliance, governance and driver safety.

Maintenance Management organizes preventive plans by mileage or schedule, opens automatic work orders and makes it possible to keep track of the ratio between preventive and corrective maintenance.

When this data is integrated, the carrier moves from an operation that intuitively “does ESG” to one that can prove what it does with numbers to customers, shippers and financiers.

ESG in freight transport is no longer an issue for the future and is already determining who secures contracts, credit and drivers today.

And the good news for those operating fleets responsibly is that much of the required practice does not start from scratch: it starts with what already exists in the operation, organized traceably and measured consistently.

Start implementing the actions above now and, to identify what other improvements your fleet management needs, take Prolog's free assessment. Visit and answer the questions to receive a complete action plan (in Portuguese).