SmartWay Transport Partnership (Renewal)

The EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation (OAR) developed the SmartWay Transport Partnership (“SmartWay”) under directives outlined in Subtitle D of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 which calls on EPA to assess the energy and air quality impacts of activities within the freight industry. These activities include long-duration truck idling, the development and promotion of strategies for reducing idling, fuel consumption, and negative air quality effects. SmartWay’s objectives also are consistent with the Federal Technology Transfer Act and other laws that support collaborative partnerships between government and industry. SmartWay is open to organizations that own, operate, or contract with fleet operations, including truck and multi-modal carriers, air carriers, logistics companies, and shippers. Organizations that do not operate fleets, but that are working to strengthen the freight industry, such as industry trade associations, state and local transportation agencies and environmental groups, also may join as SmartWay Affiliates. All organizations that join SmartWay are asked to provide EPA with information as part of their SmartWay registration to annually benchmark their transportation-related operations and improve the environmental performance of their freight activities. A company joins SmartWay when it completes and submits a SmartWay Excel-based Partnership tool (“reporting tool”) to EPA. The data outputs from the submitted tool are used by Partners and SmartWay in several ways. First, the data provides confirmation that SmartWay Partners are meeting established objectives as in their Partnership Agreement. The reporting tool outputs enable EPA to assist SmartWay Partners in adjusting their commitments, as appropriate, and to update them with environmental performance and technology information that empower them to improve their efficiency. This information also improves EPA’s knowledge and understanding of the environmental and energy impacts associated with goods movement, and the effectiveness of both proven and emerging strategies to lessen those impacts. In addition to requesting annual transportation-related data, EPA may ask its SmartWay Partners for other kinds of information which could include opinions and test data on the effectiveness of new and emerging technology applications, sales volumes associated with SmartWay-recommended vehicle equipment and technologies, the reach and value of partnering with EPA through the SmartWay Partnership, and awareness of the SmartWay brand. In some instances, EPA might query other freight industry representatives (not just SmartWay Partners), including trade and professional associations, nonprofit environmental groups, energy, and community organizations, and universities, and a small sampling of the general public.

The latest form for SmartWay Transport Partnership (Renewal) expires 2021-04-30 and can be found here.