Eighty-three percent of logistics professionals expect climate adaptation to force a fundamental redesign of their networks, yet only 45% consider current efforts adequate. That gap is the headline finding of the first Global Sustainable Logistics Survey (GSLS), released this week by Kühne Logistics University (KLU) and the Kuehne Climate Center (KCC) — the first global, longitudinal study of sustainable logistics, built to track the sector across the UN Decade of Sustainable Transport running 2026 to 2035.

The survey polled 1,085 professionals across 64 countries on three themes: sustainability solutions, skills, and adaptation to climate risks. The pattern repeats in every area. "Professionals broadly agree on what needs to happen, but progress depends on whether individual companies, or the wider systems they rely on, are actually able to act," the GSLS researchers wrote in the inaugural report.

Where shippers and providers actually agree

On solutions, agreement is striking. Logistics providers and their customers rated 21 sustainability measures — from route optimization and fleet electrification to low-carbon fuels — almost identically. The report's conclusion is blunt: feasibility, not disagreement, determines what gets adopted.

For carriers and forwarders, that reframes the commercial problem. The bottleneck is not persuading customers to accept sustainable logistics; it is whether charging networks, terminals, and rail connections can keep pace. The report warns that infrastructure could become the defining constraint of the coming decade if low-carbon vehicles and fuels scale faster than the systems they depend on.

What does the report ask policymakers to do?

The report recommends that policymakers build a "context-specific enabling policy framework" for sustainable logistics. "Frameworks should focus on solutions that are rated effective but rarely adopted, such as low-carbon fuels, electrification, and intermodal transport," the authors wrote.

That recommendation speaks directly to the feasibility gap the survey documents. Measures the industry rates as effective remain rare in practice precisely because the enabling infrastructure and incentives lag behind.

What should managers do now?

For logistics managers, the guidance cuts against wait-and-see strategies. Companies should push ahead with capital-intensive solutions while simultaneously demanding policy change, the report argues. "Companies that move early build know-how and meet customer expectations before regulation requires it. Investments can be staged while preserving flexibility," the authors wrote.

The logic is commercial as much as environmental: early movers accumulate operational know-how and satisfy customer expectations ahead of regulatory mandates, while staging investments protects balance sheets against uncertain policy timelines.

A baseline for the decade ahead

The survey also covers skills and climate-risk adaptation, with recommendations for both policymakers and professionals on scaling solutions and building workforce capability. The full report and survey data are available online from the Kuehne Climate Center.

With the UN Decade of Sustainable Transport beginning in 2026, the GSLS establishes the baseline against which the sector's progress — or stagnation — on electrification, low-carbon fuels, and network adaptation will be measured year over year.