Sustainability and Logistics – LogiMAT 2025 Recap

In a nutshell: 3 days of LogiMAT are history. 3 days of walking, chatting, eating, drinking, even more chatting, laughing, dancing. I took it upon myself to investigate and find out how much presence the topic of sustainability actually gets at Europe's most important intralogistics trade fair. And in true truffle-pig fashion, I tried to sniff out the shining stars of sustainability. To get it out of the way: it was sobering, enlightening, inspiring, frustrating, irritating and surprising. All at once. A rollercoaster ride. But let's start from the beginning…

Note: I have a day job, which naturally took priority at LogiMAT as well. The task described above was something I tackled as a kind of "hobby" on the side. I was helped by all the wonderful and kind people who shared not only their tips but also their opinions and observations with me. A big thank you for that. Without those conversations, I wouldn't have come close to forming a reasonably solid, shareable impression in the time available to me. What I also want to say: to everyone I didn't get to meet, especially those who may want to push back on my impressions — my sincere apologies. Feel free to reach out!

Let's get into it!

The Frustration

There's no other way to put it: the first impression was shocking. Across the entire trade fair, sustainability was essentially non-existent. Environmental claims, green booths and buzzword bingo in keynotes and panel discussions in the atrium and forums? Forget it. Admittedly, I wasn't at the atrium all that often. But I did read through the programme (which was also one of the reasons my motivation was simmering on a low flame). Sustainability = gone with the wind. A thing of the past. And this despite LogiMAT having declared sustainability a central theme:

There are two things I would like to — and must — mention here. On the one hand, Institute Director Alice Kirchheim from Fraunhofer ILM in Dortmund did give sustainability meaningful space in the panel discussion "LogiMAT Summit 2025", contextualising it with style and substance well beyond the usual platitudes, and underscoring its importance. On the other hand, the largest booth at the trade fair — Jungheinrich's — triggered a gong every full hour (or half hour; I didn't track it precisely), displaying "Sustainability" on a green background across their video cubes and screens. How much substance lies behind that, I can't say. 

But then again, LogiMAT itself can hardly be blamed for the fact that exhibitors have largely dropped the word "sustainability" (or Sustainability) from their booth vocabulary. The trade fair is, interestingly, a mirror of the current social and political climate in many respects. Sustainability has become a contested term. What was once a positively charged concept has flipped into something seen as adversarial. That's an overstatement, of course — the world is never as black and white as I'm provocatively trying to paint it here. Nevertheless, it's fair to conclude that intralogistics is following the trend and giving sustainability less of the spotlight. The deeper reasons behind this are certainly open to speculation. 

My many conversations confirmed just how much "sustainability" has lost its pulling power as a driving force. Two years ago — even three years ago — things looked very different. Socially, politically, economically, and therefore also at LogiMAT. Let me put it this way: the colour green was far more visible at the trade fair two and three years ago than it was in 2025.

But is that a good thing or a bad thing?

That's a fascinating question. I'll work my way towards an answer by first looking inward at myself. Because it's quite striking how much it affected me initially. I was genuinely "angry" about what I was observing. After all, I fight every day in my own way to make this topic more visible. In all kinds of forms, at all kinds of levels, in all kinds of communities: raising awareness and sharing inspiration through our podcast [3], this blog post, various keynotes, interviews, but also through daily entrepreneurial actions and general role modelling. As best I can. Thoughtfully. At least I try. Or tell myself I do. Take your pick.

But then the cynic in me also had something to say: "You idiot — didn't you always want less blabla and more doing? So why are you getting worked up now that the greenwashing era has passed its peak season? You predicted yourself that this era would soon be over. [4]/[5] So just calm down! Or is it not really about the topic at all — is it just about you!" (that's a paraphrased dialogue from a conversation with myself; come on, you all do that too, right? RIGHT???). Cynic-Timo has a point there. God, sometimes I really want to give that guy a slap.

So it's time to dig deeper into reality…

Behind the Façade

Of course it's not a bad thing when (far) fewer companies push out their green claims. Sustainability marketing is, at the end of the day, exactly that: just marketing. The substance is what counts. In the past — including the recent past in intralogistics — a great deal was communicated on the topic of sustainability. Much of it had a greenwashing or greenwishing character, though I want to emphasise that a.) the majority would more accurately be classified as the latter, i.e. greenwishing, and b.) this is absolutely not exclusive to the intralogistics industry.

For decades, many — if not most — players in the industry have been working on more efficient Solutions. On one side: greater throughput and productivity; on the other: reduced energy consumption and resource conservation. And intralogistics has been doing this — as I said — for a long time. The primary driver in this very margin-driven, chronically cash-strapped industry has always been exactly that: cutting costs. Becoming more attractive. Staying competitive. Perfectly normal business behaviour.

When sustainability then experienced yet another renaissance¹ during the last election campaign — driven in part by the Ahr Valley disaster and the activism surrounding "Fridays for Future" — one could observe in intralogistics the remarkable symbiosis of this inherent