Charles Dubouix
How to measure freight emissions? (3/3): Data collection and interpretation How to leverage carbon data
- Data collection is a major challenge for many shippers
- Third-party integration or freight forwarders can support shippers to efficiently collect data.
Data collection is still a major challenge
Companies have partial knowledge of their emissions: of the 75% of respondents who report that their company calculates GHG emissions from freight, a good score, only 41% report a comprehensive calculation.
Source : Study Bp2r et Carbone 4: (Re)concilier transport de marchandise et décarbonation.
Collecting reliable and accurate data can be difficult because value chains are often fragmented and sometimes opaque. Companies frequently depend on external suppliers to collect data.
As we have seen, the data collected by different actors lack homogeneity, making it challenging to compare them and gain an overall understanding of their impact.
To overcome this obstacle, third-party software measurement technologies can be developed and integrated into enterprise IT systems via APIs. Carriers can also be assisted by committed freight forwarders, shippers and public institutions.
Enhancement of output data as interpretable and manageable indicators
Producing data for the sake of data production is useless. Carbon data must be used for analysis and decision-making.
Different indicators to reflect different realities.
As it is the case in finance, companies should use different indicators to monitor their environmental performance and justify decisions.
Metrics | Unit | Analysis | |
The absolute value, that is to say the total volume of induced emissions | gCO2 or gCO2eq | Measuring induced emissions, specifically their absolute volume, is an essential metric. This represents physical flows that ultimately impact the climate.
Global emission reduction targets are set in absolute terms, which means that governments and companies need to reduce their impact in absolute terms as well.
This indicator is therefore crucial for companies to confront their overall impact and control and reduce their emissions in terms of volume. | |
Carbon intensity, which measures the CO2 emissions of a transport per kilometer travelled and per tonne of goods transported | gCO2/t.km or gCO2eq/t.km | This concept enables the comparison of different modes of transportation, regardless of variation in weight and distance traveled.
It also facilitates comparison with other companies to ensure that emissions remain reasonable.
Using relative terms is crucial for evaluating and arbitrating transport and supply chain activities.
There are also alternative ways to measure carbon intensity, such as based on turnover (gCO2/CA) or payroll (gCO2/number of employees). | |
Avoided emissions | gCO2 avoided or gCO2eq avoided | This concept enables carriers to measure their efforts in decarbonizing their supply chain.
Avoided emissions refer to the difference in the level of GHG emissions compared to a reference scenario, caused by an "intervention" by the organization within its environment.
Any decarbonization lever, such as modal shift, eco-driving, or alternative fuels, can trigger avoided emissions.
This concept help evaluate the potential impact of each decarbonization lever. |