Contribution to International Organisations

European Commission

Professor McKinnon has performed a number of senior roles for the EC, including:

• Chairman of the Transport Advisory Group for the EC’s Horizon 2020 research programme (2014-16)
  • Report of the TAG outlining H2020 research priorities for the period 2016-17:
    
    
  • Report of the TAG summarising its discussions on the decarbonisation of European transport and the dissemination of EU-funded transport research:
    
    
• Chairman of the Planning Committee for the 2016 EU-US Symposium on the Adaptation of Transport Systems to Climate Change (held in Brussels on the 16 and 17 June 2016)http://www.alanmckinnon.co.uk/blog/?p=164   Full report of the symposium is available here
• Co-Chair of the Planning Committee for the 2013 EC-US Symposium on City Logistics
  http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/conf/cp50.pdf 
• Member of the High Level Group on Logistics advising the EC Transport Commissioner, Siim Kallas (2012-2014).
  http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-12-717_en.htm
• Rapporteur of an Expert Group set up to review the transport section of the 7th Framework Programme of EU-funded research (FP7) (2010-11).
• One of the authors of the Scientific Assessment of Strategic Transport Technologies undertaken for the European Commission to support the development of its Strategic Transport Technology Plan (STTP) (2010-12).  A copy of this report can be downloaded from:
  http://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC68397
• Advisor to study undertaken for European Commissions by Ricardo on the environmental impact of the regulation in the EU Mobility Package requiring trucks to return to the country where their ‘establishment’ is based at lease once every eight weeks (2020). Study outline

European Chemical Industry Council (Cefic)

Professor McKinnon facilitated a series of roundtable discussions with senior executives of large European chemical companies culminating in the launch of a report on ‘supply chain excellence’ in this industry. He also advised Cefic on the carbon footprinting of European chemical transport. The report he co-authored with Dr Maja Piecyk formed the basis of the guidelines now used by European chemical companies to measure their transport-related carbon emissions.

http://www.cefic.org/Documents/IndustrySupport/supply_chain_excellence.pdf

http://www.cefic.org/Documents/IndustrySupport/Transport-and-Logistics/MeasuringAndManagingCO2EmissionOfEuropeanTransport-McKinnon-Report%20-24.01.2011.pdf

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)

The IPCC was set up in1988 by the United Nations Environment Program and World Meteorological Organisation to ‘prepare comprehensive and up-to-date assessments of policy-relevant scientific, technical, and socio-economic information relevant for understanding the scientific basis of climate change, potential impacts, and options for mitigation and adaptation’ (www.ipcc.ch).

Professor McKinnon was one of the lead authors of the transport chapter in the third volume of the IPCC’s 5th Assessment report published in 2014.  This volume (WGIII) focused on the ‘Mitigation of Climate Change’.  He also contributed to Annex III of this volume on ‘Technology-specific Cost and Performance Parameters’. 

Click here to access a copy of the Transport Chapter

Click here to access a copy of Annex III

International Energy Agency

Professor McKinnon (with the assistance of Dr. Maja Piecyk) prepared the chapter on Surface Freight Transport for the IEA’s 2009 report on Transport, Energy and CO2.

https://www.iea.org/publications/freepublications/publication/transport2009.pdf

International Transport Forum (part of the OECD)

Professor McKinnon has been an adviser to the International Transport Forum on a range of issues including:

• The use of economic incentives to promote the decarbonisation of freight transport (2008)http://www.itf-oecd.org/potential-economic-incentives-reduce-co2-emissions-goods-transport 
• The effects of traffic congestion on the reliability of freight transport / logistics (2007-8)  http://www.itf-oecd.org/reliability-road-transport-perspective-logistics-managers-and-freight-operators
• Innovation in road freight sector (2009)
  http://www.itf-oecd.org/innovation-road-freight-transport-achievements-and-challenges
• Infrastructure and services in the hinterlands of container ports (2013)
  http://www.itf-oecd.org/efficient-hinterland-transport-infrastructure-and-services-large-container-ports
• Supply chain risk and resilience (2014)
  http://www.itf-oecd.org/building-supply-chain-resilience-review-challenges-and-strategies
• The formation of logistics observatories in Chile and Mexico (2014-15)
  http://www.itf-oecd.org/logistics-strategy-and-performance-measurement-mexico%E2%80%99s-national-observatory-transport-and-logistics
• Performance measurement in freight transport (2015)
  http://www.itf-oecd.org/performance-measurement-freight-transport-0

Professor McKinnon was an invited speaker at the Forums in Leipzig in 2008, 2014  and 2017 and keynote speaker at an ITF Roundtable on freight performance measurement in Mexico in 2015.

• PLAY VIDEO from event: 1st International Transport Forum, Leipzig (2008)
• PLAY VIDEO from event: 6th International Transport Forum, Leipzig (2014)
• PLAY VIDEO from event: 10th International Transport Forum, Leipzig (2017)
• PLAY VIDEO from event: ITF Roundtable, Mexico (2015)

United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)

Professor McKinnon contributed to the 13th Conference in Doha in 2013 and in March 2016 ran a week-long course in Sustainable Freight Transport and Finance for 75 senior government and industry officials from seven East African countries in Nairobi, jointly with Mr. Sudhir Gota.

http://unctad.org/en/Pages/MeetingDetails.aspx?meetingid=1079

World Bank

With KLU colleagues, Kai Hoberg and Christoph Floethmann, Professor McKinnon undertook a review of logistics skills, competences and training for the World Bank. This project had four objectives:

• Assess labour and skill shortages in logistics around the world.
• Examine the current state of logistics training and staff development.
• Review recruitment and retention strategies used by logistics companies.
• Provide guidance for governments on how to upgrade the logistics workforce.

The final report of the study, entitled ‘Logistics Competences, Skills and Training: A Global Overview’  was published in August 2017 and can be downloaded from the World Bank website:

https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/27723

In a second phase of this project, Professor McKinnon worked with Dr Moritz Petersen, a senior research associate in the KLU, and Professor Kai Hoberg to develop a ‘toolkit’ that national governments can use to assess the availability of logistics skills in their countries.  This toolkit was successfully trialled in the west African country of Togo in January 2017.  A paper summarising the phase 2 and outlining the toolkit was presented by Dr Petersen at the 12th Hamburg International Conference of Logistics on 12 October 2017 at the Technical University of Hamburg Harburg.

A copy of this paper is available for download:

World Economic Forum

Professor McKinnon was appointed a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council (GAC) on the Future of Transportation in 2008. In 2010 he was appointed chairman of a new GAC on Logistics and Supply Chain Management, a post he held until 2012. As a GAC Chairman he attended the WEF’s Annual Meeting in Davos in 2011 and 2012, presenting the results of the Logistics Council’s work to the CEOs of major logistics and transportation companies. He remained a member of the Logistics / Supply Chain Council until 2016 and was one of the longest serving members of a GAC.

https://www.weforum.org/communities/global-agenda-council-on-the-future-of-logistics-supply-chains

In 2016 Global Agenda Councils were replaced by a Network of Global Future Councils.  Professor McKinnon was appointed to the new Global Future Council on the Future of Mobility.  The Council met for the first time in Dubai in November 2016.

https://www.weforum.org/communities/the-future-of-mobility/

http://www.alanmckinnon.co.uk/newslayout.html?IDX=722&b=74&q=2016

Reflections on Davos 2011

From the Heriot-Watt University magazine (click to pop up larger version):