European Union needs to clarify Scope 3 definitions says DANX Carousel CEO Sejling

Klaus Rud Sejling, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), DANX Carousel, has appealed to the European Union (EU) to urge member countries to agree on supply chain Scope 3 emissions criteria to simplify reporting and ultimately reduce end user costs.

Sejling said that, while he was an advocate of the environmental ambitions of Scope 3, there was customer frustration with differences between logistic providers in the way they report their emission measurements and how they express their Scope 3 reduction targets.

“Until the European Union can agree single emissions definitions and reporting parameters used by all member states, responsibility will sit with logistics providers to ensure that emissions reporting throughout the supply chain is both accurate, independently validated, and comparable with no legislative clarification,” said Sejling.

“Different emissions factors, or different metrics to measure emissions such as CO2 tonnes per kg or per freight ton, expose shippers to errors in the emissions calculations that they are reliant on from their logistics provider.

“Scope 3 emissions data is based on clarity, definition, and uniformity, but lack of standards and requirements imposed by different countries and industries across the EU make comparable calculations unduly difficult and potentially expose companies to inaccurate reporting and conclusions.”

Sejling anticipated the benefits of closer relationships between logistics providers and manufacturers as a result of the demands of Scope 3 but said that these might be limited by the inefficiencies of the current situation.

In response to Scope 3, DANX Carousel already maps its entire transportation network and couples data with known factors from its suppliers' activities and the consignments they deliver to measure the emissions in-house, which in turn supports their ambitious Scope 3 emission reduction targets.

At DANX Carousel’s recent webinar, entitled How to Successfully Implement Mandatory Scope 3 Emission Reporting in Supply Chain Management, attendees discussed the challenges and opportunities presented by Scope3 as well as the significant contribution now required from logistics providers to achieve compliance.

In March Sejling called on the EU to standardise regulations concerning the transport and storage of electric vehicle (EV) batteries to reduce supply chain costs and the risk of storage incidents.

Scope 3 emissions are commonly defined as indirect greenhouse gas emissions – which are produced largely by third party logistics providers as part of supply chain activities.