The European Climate Agreement legally requires companies to demonstrably reduce their emissions by 55% below 1990 levels by 2030. Ultimately, emissions must be net zero. To this end a variety of regulations have been developed at the EU level, such as the CSRD. This requires companies to produce sustainability reports. As the new Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS-II) is to cap and price almost all CO₂ emissions from 2027, reliable and robust reporting on CO₂ will become crucial. This will prevent companies from paying for someone else’s emissions.

How to work in compliance with ISO 14083

The full ISO 14083 document is very comprehensive and detailed. Here you find the key principles to follow the main points. For details, please refer to the implementation guidelines  and information on ISO 14083 verification .

CPI – The most important KPI

The purpose of ISO 14083 is to assign CO₂ emissions to individual shipments. For example, dividing truck trip emissions by the packages transported or dividing barge emissions by the containers transported.
The CoFRET Presentation Indicator (CPI) can do this fairly and accurately. This smart and convenient KPI forms the basis for CO₂ allocation through ISO 14083. The calculation of the CPI is very similar to the calculation of cost prices in transportation: a fair share of total emissions is allocated to each shipment.

Allocating emissions through CPI

Allocation of emission through CPI takes three steps:

1    Calculate total transport performance of a trip: unit of load x bird’s-eye distance.
2    Calculate CPI: divide total kg CO₂ emissions of trip by the transport performance of step 1.
3    Allocate emissions using the CPI based on transport performance per shipment.

Like to know more? On the Guidelines page at the bottom you will find detailed information about CPI.

Data quality

Reliability and accuracy of the calculation of the overall footprint depend on the data quality.  Calculations based on accurately measured primary data are much more reliable than calculations based on estimates with characteristic parameters.
The recipient of the data needs to know exactly how reliable the data is. Companies that provide an indication of their own data quality and of their partners early in the chain, create clarity and unambiguity. Trendsetting companies that accurately measure and report their own data will get recognition for their efforts. Other companies will be stimulated to measure with increasing accuracy. Topsector Logistics uses four levels of data quality in Carbon Footprinting.

Learn more about using data, inferring or modeling.

Default values

For reliable emissions figures, companies depend on their own data and on data provided by subcontractors or suppliers. Sometimes these are not available. A company may be just starting to report emissions data. In such cases, reliable default data are indispensable. These must deviate as little as possible from primary measured data and give a realistic picture.

Topsector Logistics developed the Transport Performance Database with data of more than 600 logistics companies. More data are added all the time. The database provides companies sharing their information with a benchmark, allowing them to easily compare their emissions performance with others in the segment, industry or sector. In addition, companies can use the database to efficiently and accurately fill “gaps” in their own carbon accounting.