New ISO standard to quantify transport-related carbon emissions

The international standard for assigning CO2 emissions to transport activities in the supply chain is ready. Logistics companies and their service providers can use ISO standard 14083 to unambiguously calculate, allocate and share details of their carbon footprint with supply chain partners.

The goal of reducing carbon emissions by 55% by 2030 directly affects companies, not least because emissions will be taxed in the future. As a result, carbon footprinting will become an essential part of business operations. Before long, logistics companies’ customers are likely to start asking for a declaration of CO2 emissions.

But in order to reduce emissions, it must first be clear where the emissions are generated in the supply chain. This means that uniform figures must be available chain-wide, so a standard methodology is essential. Partly based on the input provided by the Netherlands’ Top Sector Logistics public-private partnership, that standard methodology – ISO 14083 – is now a reality.

The new ISO standard also forms the basis for software to reliably and verifiably assign the carbon footprint within transport and logistics. Top Sector Logistics is making good progress on translating this standard into practice and to verify that it is properly applied.

Practical guidance

Top Sector Logistics has commissioned LRQA Netherlands to convert the ISO 14083 standard into a practical guidance document, which is expected to be shared with a pilot group of shippers, carriers, forwarders and software developers for review this April.

The feedback from the reviews will be used as input for the audit schedule, which will be drawn up next. This will set out step by step which action a company must take and what it must demonstrate to comply with the new ISO standard. This schedule will also be reviewed by the pilot group. After the review process, the documentation, processes and data of the participating companies will be verified, and they will then be among the first to comply with ISO 14083.

European rollout

The Top Sector Logistics pilot is expected to be completed this summer, and the guidance document and audit schedule will then be published for use by companies themselves. The intention is for this ISO 14083 implementation approach to subsequently be rolled out throughout Europe.