The first universal method for logistics emissions accounting
In March 2023, after around three and a half years of preparation, the ISO 14083 standard “Greenhouse gases — Quantification and reporting of greenhouse gas emissions arising from transport chain operations” was published. This new ISO standard also provides the basis for BigMile software to reliably and verifiably assign the CO₂ footprint within transportation and logistics.
The World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in January 2023 saw the launch of new guidance to support the logistics industry on its journey to net-zero emissions. This guidance, released by the Smart Freight Centre and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, sets out to help businesses in implementing their decarbonization strategies. ISO 14083 is the first universal method for logistics emissions accounting and is a replacement the existing European standard EN 16258. It will help companies to better understand and track their logistics emissions.
The GLEC Framework is one of the primary inputs for the new ISO standard. This means the principles of the GLEC Framework are embedded into a formalised ISO structure and ensure that companies, governments, and investors use a single methodology, consistent with the GLEC Framework, in the future. As BigMile is aligned with the GLEC Framework, this means BigMile is also timely ready for ISO 14083.
Implementing the standard
In the Netherlands, BigMile is part of a pilot group consisting of ten companies, including Bleckmann, Van den Bosch and Moonen Packaging. Led by Top Sector Logistics, the pilot group is mapping out how companies can implement this standard and is also coming up with a practical translation of the standard and a verification scheme.
The main difference from the previous standard, Leon Simons (Top Sector Logistics) comments in a recent article from Logistiek.nl, is that from now on you have to start stating your distance measure and data sources. “You can now use multiple distance measures to allocate your CO2 and you can use multiple data sources for emission factors. Provided you name them. It is calculated with a basic unit, but it also gives enough opportunity to make it specific to your situation. And so you have to start passing on how you arrive at that number and how someone else has to use it, so that someone who calculates differently, can trace it back and really do something with it.”
Part of a larger trend
By itself, ISO 14083 getting published might not mean a lot to everyone immediately. However, it’s one part of a much, much larger trend that is going to impact all supply chains. New regulations like Taskforce for Climate-related Financial Disclosure (TCFD) , Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), and the US’s new Blueprint for Transportation Decarbonization all show that tracking supply chain emissions is going to be vital in the coming years.
