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To investigate how your company can improve the socio-environmental performance of its logistics activities or supply chain and to realise a sustainable logistics, one must start with an analysis of the energy consumption and associated greenhouse gas emissions and other air contaminants from the logistics emission sources or of existing supply chains. This will provide a baseline from which a emission reduction strategy can be developed and performance can be measured over time.
Starting
with material flow analyses, logistics data
and technical data, the
logistics profile of a supply chain are converted into energy consumption
and greenhouse gas emissions data.
This process results in
Emission Inventories
for logistics emissions sources and in
Supply Chain Ecological Key Performance
Indicators (Eco-KPI) per supply chain, parts of the supply chain,
product group or product in terms of value, weight and/or volume. An
example of an Eco-KPI is the energy use needed for the transport and storage
of a product unit expressed in megajoules (MJ) per Unit (EUR, $, kg,…).
If detailed logistics data or energy consumption data is not (yet) available, average profiles and default energy and emission factors are used to estimate the energy consumption and related key environmental impacts.
A
project of the Green Logistics Consultants Group is the development
of EcoLog Databases per transport mode.
This data provides
information on the capacity, capacity utilisation, energy consumption,
greenhouse gas
and other air
contaminants
of the different transport modes and of different transport vehicle classes
or
(representative) types.
The
following databases are currently being developed:
- EcoLogRail for rail transport data;
- EcoLogRoad for road transport data;
- EcoLogAir for air transport data;
- EcologMar for maritime and short sea shipping data;
- EcoLogIn for inland waterways transport data;
- EcologStor for storage and distribution centre data;
- EcologHand for non-road sources such as handling equipment.
Based on direct energy consumption and the energy carrier (e.g. diesel, electricity), the total energy consumption is calculated taking into account the energy losses during the energy conversion chain (ERE or energy requirement for energy value). This is needed to evaluate the potential effect of alternative energy carriers such as biofuel since (fossil) energy is needed to produce it and to take country specific aspects into account, such as the distance between "well and wheels".
Other
tools that are currently being developed are a step-by–step guidebook
and supply chain specific and logistics industry
specific protocols
to measure or calculate greenhouse gas emissions
and other harmful pollutants. This guidebook and
protocols provide information on organisational and operational boundaries,
accounting approaches and quantification methods.
These protocols and data are consistent with IPCC guidelines and will be
complementary to the IPPC guidelines and the GHG protocols developed by the
World Business Council for Sustainable Development and the World Resources
Institute.
For
more
information please contact our
secretariat.