by Lena Babaeva Coradini

Certain retailers, among them Best Buy, Target, and JCPenney, will be participating with trucking companies and ocean carriers in developing a green certification and rating system for port delivery trucks.

They are members of the Coalition for Responsible Transportation (CRT), a California-based nonprofit partnering with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to model the new rating system after the EPA’s SmartWay Transport Program.

The partners are now actively working on the program in preparation for a pilot program that will first test the framework at Southern California ports, with plans to expand the program nationally, according to CRT Executive Director James Jack.

While the SmartWay program focuses on trucks that travel across the nation, this program will focus on those trucks that service seaports and contribute to port pollution.