Overcoming barriers in digitalization with the use of Smart Freight Centre’s Data Access guidance
Amsterdam, 16 January 2023 - The latest publication on GLEC’s Data Access & Exchange project suggests solutions for companies to overcome common barriers in obtaining data from their supply chains, supporting their “digital journey” towards zero-emission logistics.
Digitalization and transparency are critical enablers in order to understand your carbon footprint, take informed decisions and work towards achieving a zero-emission logistics sector. Securing access to reliable data from supply chains is therefore becoming increasingly important.
To harmonize digitalization processes and increase transparency of logistics carbon footprints, Smart Freight Centre launched its latest guidance on Data Access and Exchange. This guidance provides industry insights on how to create visibility of logistics-related GHG emissions. It describes solutions to overcome common barriers to the necessary data exchange and introduces clear parameter overviews and associated data models for standardizing and automating logistics-related GHG data exchange across the transport chain.
About the Data Access project
The Data Access for Logistics Emissions Accounting and Reporting (“Data Access”) project aims to increase transparency of logistics emissions and decarbonization strategies. This is achieved through supporting shippers, LSPs, and carriers in accessing and exchanging GHG logistics emissions data across their transport supply chains in a standardized manner.
Building on the 5 insights gained in the first phase of the project (published in our Insights paper), today’s Guidance paper provides:
- An introduction on how to overcome common barriers to exchanging GHG related information across your transport chain. Recognizing the need to move beyond reporting and to inform decision making, different use cases for calculating GHG logistics emissions are introduced, providing an understanding of required granularity of the data and associated calculations. In addition, it provides an indication of the respective responsibilities for capturing the data and solutions to overcome trust and data assurance issues. Finally, it covers initial concepts around costs and incentive topics to increase action across your supply chain and the industry.
- A Data Model to harmonize and facilitate the automated exchange of GHG logistics emissions related data. Understanding and harmonizing the data requirements and associated processes will help your organization to advance and take more accurate business decisions in decarbonizing logistics. Focusing on the exchange on a transport chain element and shipment level, and therefore supporting highly detailed understanding of the GHG emissions at a single leg or of a single shipment, allow for all other upwards aggregations. Thus, the Data Model is developed on a transport chain element level and the guidance presents a refined version of it based on last year’s testing efforts. In addition, a schematic representation is also developed to explain the relationships between the parameters and facilitate the IT integration of the model in various systems. The data model contains constraints, requirements, units, data types and definitions for each parameter and acts as a base for standardized IT system integration of GHG emission data.
This guidance document has been developed in collaboration with the Global Logistics Emissions Council (GLEC) and selected partners through a series of workstream meetings from July 2021 to December 2022.
Download the data access guidance
Get involved
If your organization is interested in testing the output of this guidance, we welcome all input to continue improving the published work. Please contact us:
Violetta Matzoros: violetta.matzoros@smartfreightcentre.org
Gabriela Rubio Domingo: gabriela.rubiodomingo@smartfreightcentre.org