GHG emissions reporting made easier

Odette has just published ‘Guidelines for Reporting Freight Greenhouse Gas Emissions’ which answer those questions and are the first of their kind for the automotive industry.
 In order to support the ambitious carbon reduction targets that governments have set for 2020 and beyond, the transport industry will be pushed to implement carbon reduction strategies over the next few years. Many industry sectors and companies have already begun the early stages of this pro­cess, analysing their GHG emissions and exploring options for reducing them. New standards are being published and there are rising demands for data from both external customers and public bodies, as well as to meet the internal GHG accounting objectives of companies. An Odette project team of vehicle manufacturer representatives and technical experts from France, Germany, Sweden, Turkey and the UK has produced a Guidelines document to assist all those involved in GHG reporting to understand the basic principles. The Guidelines promote a consistent approach that will support both recent and future standards as well as business and legislative requirements. Rather than introducing new methodologies, the Guidelines make clear recommendations based on the most appropriate existing initiatives. Companies will have different objectives for GHG reporting and may need to use different calculation methods. The over-riding principle, however, must be that the methods used should be clearly explained and transparent and that they should be based on publicly recognised approaches. The Guidelines are aimed at all professionals involved in transportation within the European Automotive Industry, including: Vehicle manufacturers Suppliers, logistics service providers and freight transport operators Those who have an interest in transportation: governments, councils, legal institutions etc. Those who specify and purchase transport services and receive the GHG emissions information. They set out 6 simple steps to successful reporting, which can be summarised as follows:
 Identify your reporting objectives Understand the sources of your emissions Select your calculation method Gather required data as accurately as you can Present results in an appropriate report, including the methodology used and all the assumptions made Use publicly recognised methods and emissions factors as listed in the Guidelines wherever possible The benefits of following these guidelines will be: Use of recognised methods to answer information requests from customers and government bodies Alignment to new European legislation and the new CEN standard Ability to support Corporate Sociability/Sustainability surveys without duplication of effort Better harmonisation of emissions reporting amongst service providers and transport users Alignment with other industry sectors. Sjoerd Ewals of Ewals Cargo Care commented: "The Guidelines provide a comprehensive outline on today’s available information regarding freight greenhouse gas emissions. The information is for any industry sector and helpful for both decision makers and “newcomers” to the topic.“ Download a free copy of the report entitled ‘Guidelines for Reporting Freight Greenhouse Gas Emissions’. For more information, contact: info@odette.org