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Smart Freight Centre

Smart Freight Centre, Worldwide

Developing an ISO Standard to promote a more efficient and low-emission global freight sector

Developing an ISO Standard to promote a more efficient and low-emission global freight sector.

The transport sector is the bedrock of world economic growth. Yet, as the need to move goods and people around the planet will increase exponentially in the near future, the sector poses urgent environmental challenges that need to be addressed by the public and private global agendas.

Experts predict that international freight volumes will triplicate by 2050, with the consequent increase of C02 emissions up to 60%. If the ambition is to achieve the Paris Climate Agreement’s goal to limit global warming, the transport sector needs a drastic and transformative decarbonisation shift. Global multinational corporations are the main drivers of freight transport demand, and therefore their commitment is key to improve the sustainability of the transport sector.

Smart Freight Centre (SFC), a mission-driven organisation dedicated to a more efficient and low-emissions global freight sector, understood that a major barrier that prevented industry actors from reducing emissions from freight was the lack of harmonised guidelines for measuring and comparing emissions across supply chains.
To help multinationals monitor, report and eventually reduce their CO2 emissions, SFC created the Global Logistics Emissions Council (GLEC) Framework. This is the first globally recognised and standardised method for calculating and reporting emissions across different modes of transport (road, railway, marine and air transportation).

Since 2019, the Trafigura Foundation has been supporting SFC to consolidate the GLEC Framework by developing additional guidelines, including the creation of a company-specific emissions reduction roadmap. Our support also helped SFC enlarge the basis of multinational companies adopting its methodology. Today, over 100 multinational companies use it to calculate and report emissions and more than 20 global initiatives and organizations aligned their policies, programs and strategies to the GLEC guidelines.

In 2021, we embarked in a new phase of our partnership to support SFC in developing an ISO-recognised international standard based on the GLEC Framework that will provide a unique methodology for the wider transport sector.

Developing an ISO Standard is an essential step to build the credibility of the GLEC methodology and promote its global acceptance and consistent application by government, investors and multinationals. It will provide a unique tool to these players to drive climate action, develop policies and roadmaps to reduce emissions and track progress.

The development of the ISO norm will also help the SFC become an internationally recognised certifying body able to provide services for industry actors, an important operation that will help SFC diversify its sources of income and increase its long-term sustainability.

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