End-to-End Guidance
Smart Freight Centre and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) are united in a mission to increase transparency on carbon emissions and work towards a net-zero logistics sector. In partnership with over 30 leading global organizations, supported by the World Economic Forum, with McKinsey & Company providing analytical insights and advisory guidance, this consortium co-developed and released in January 2023 an actionable and implementable guidance to quantify the impact of GHG logistics emissions from supplier to final customer; an End-to-End Guidance.
With this guidance, we propose a clear actionable methodology on how to calculate and report end – to – end logistics emissions. The guidance explains the calculation steps which are most appropriate when having access to primary data. Apart from clear calculation steps, the Guidance sets out the requirements for data accountability and data sharing amongst shippers and carriers to allow for more impactful supply chain decarbonization. The guidance additionally introduces the concept of an input data quality indicator used to inform the total emissions and emission intensity of transport chains.
Enabling companies to better quantify GHG emissions
We co-developed this guidance to enhance the implementation of the GLEC Framework 2.0, which provides the international methodology framework for the quantification and associated reporting of GHG emissions from logistics operations within supply chains. However, the complexity of modern supply chains induces many possible interpretations of the GLEC Framework.With this guidance, we propose a clear actionable methodology on how to calculate and report end – to – end logistics emissions. The guidance explains the calculation steps which are most appropriate when having access to primary data. Apart from clear calculation steps, the Guidance sets out the requirements for data accountability and data sharing amongst shippers and carriers to allow for more impactful supply chain decarbonization. The guidance additionally introduces the concept of an input data quality indicator used to inform the total emissions and emission intensity of transport chains.
What does the End-to-End Guidance bring you?
The objective of this guidance is to enable companies to better understand and track their logistics emissions on a granular operational level. It seeks to quantify the footprint of end-to-end logistics emissions, from supplier to final customer, with focus on primary data calculations. The guidance is setting out the data requirements, introducing a data quality index and the associated assurance requirements to support businesses in the implementation of their decarbonization strategies. This guidance is a springboard to further increase carbon visibility by enhancing emission data sets and the exchange of emission data that can be deployed in the industry. the guidance provides:
- Advice on how to collect and organize data
- Key performance indicators to evaluate the GHG emissions with
- A recommended assurance process
- Examples on how to apply the methodology based on realistic data
How was the End-to-End Guidance Co-developed?
The co-development of this guidance follows a collaborative approach on defining the main challenges that partners face and conceptualizes them. 10 workshops are providing insights and data as needed for the qualitative research. These challenges, act as a starting point to identify uncertainties in the calculation of emissions in supply chains. The diverse participant profiles and transport operations, covering multiple transport modes, cross-geography and cross-transportation modes, ensure a good representative sample of business operation. After collecting and studying these challenges, the specific content of the workshops was set. At each workshop part of those challenges is debated and reflected upon. By participatory debates, new guidance can be formed which will be accepted and applicable to the industry practices.
It is important to underline that the project builds upon the following activities:
It is important to underline that the project builds upon the following activities:
- Extensive development and testing of the GLEC Framework undertaken by SFC and GLEC members between 2015 and 2018 as well as 10 user case studies undertaken within the EU-funded LEARN project 2016-2019
- The Data Access and Exchange Guidance and Data Protocol developed by SFC within the ongoing Data Access and Exchange project. This provides guidance and defines a data model to facilitate data exchange across stakeholders in a supply chain for the calculation and reporting of GHG emissions.
- The WBCSD Carbon Transparency Pathfinder and its Pathfinder Framework, which provides guidance for the calculation and technology exchange of product life cycle emissions, with a focus on increasing data granularity, consistency and comparability.
- The AFNOR Spec X43-072 “GHG Performance of e-commerce deliveries” that provides a clear operational calculation methodology for road e-commerce deliveries CO2e emissions.
- EN17837: “Postal Services - Parcel Delivery Environmental Footprint - Methodology for calculation and declaration of GHG emissions and air pollutants of parcel logistics delivery services”.
- ISO 14083: “Greenhouse gases — Quantification and reporting of greenhouse gas emissions arising from transport chain operations”
- Clean Cargo methodology
Participating and endorsing companies
