A platform for the uniform, certified calculation of CO2 emissions per shipment and for sharing data with shippers through their own platform – that is what BigMile offers its transport customers with its Carbon Analytics product. CEO Dyon van Gaans expects the CSRD legislation to lead to a major breakthrough. “This law will eventually apply to all transport companies,” he says.
This article was originally published in the Dutch magazine Transport & Logistiek in October 2023.
BigMile was founded six years ago, as an initiative of Connekt , to offer a certified way for Lean & Green participants to calculate carbon emissions in the supply chain. Three years ago, BigMile continued as an independent company. Today, the organization employs 15 people. Dyon van Gaans has been CEO since February 2022.
Carbon Analytics
All Lean & Green participants use the Carbon Analytics application to some extent, and 20 of them – along with 58 other customers – have purchased access to the complete functionality. “This allows them to use our platform to calculate CO2 emissions per shipment throughout their entire supply chain and to share their planning data with shippers and clients. All shippers can log in to see their own data,” Van Gaans says.
There are multiple ways to determine carbon emissions. Van Gaans points out that the BigMile software solution is fully compliant with ISO14083. “We expect this ISO standard to become the new international standard in the calculation and allocation of CO2 emissions. Because our platform is multimodal and applies to all forms of freight transport, we want to become the leading platform for calculating carbon emissions per shipment. Today, only the sustainability pioneers in transport are calculating carbon emissions. However, the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) is about to change that. It will lead to a breakthrough for BigMile,” Van Gaans states.
Inclusion in quotations
As a result of the CSRD, around 50,000 businesses in Europe will be required to report on their sustainability performance starting in 2025. From then onwards, ever more organizations will be affected by the directive, including companies that do not directly fall under it – such as those who supply to businesses that must comply with CSRD.
Under the CSRD, the CO2 reporting must be accompanied by an auditor’s report. In Van Gaans’ experience, most companies are still taking a wait-and-see approach to carbon calculating, but a growing number of shippers and other clients are asking about it. “Evofenedex advises its members to ask carriers for quotations including the transport-related carbon emissions,” he says. This enables companies to make choices based on sustainability as well as on costs.
The resulting data can be used to gain insights as the basis for reducing CO2 emissions. Van Gaans: “Our platform supports analysis of various scenarios. For example, what’s the impact on your emissions if you start using a different fuel, such as bio-fuel, or electric vehicles? And what about if you switch to inland shipping for part of the journey?”
Growing awareness
According to Van Gaans, awareness of this issue is growing: “In France, carbon emissions are already specified on the bill of lading. The next step will be to tax these emissions by introducing a CO2 surcharge, which is likely to happen on a pan-European scale. In Germany, there are already rumours of a tax of €90 per tonne of CO2 emissions. Whatever happens, companies using BigMile are well prepared for the future developments.”
