FourKites introduces industry-first supply chain sustainability analytics

Leading supply chain visibility provider FourKites today announced several new enhancements to its Sustainability Hub, which are designed to provide customers with greater ability to track, analyze and report on the environmental impact of their supply chain logistics operations. Introduced last March, Sustainability Hub offers granular emissions tracking, industry benchmarks, analytics and scenario modeling to help customers meet sustainability goals.

These insights are powered by FourKites’ network of more than 1,200 customers and 490,000 carriers, tracking over 3 million daily shipments across 220 countries and territories.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, organizations’ supply chains often account for more than 90 percent of their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Moreover, air emissions from freight are projected to exceed growth in emissions from all other transportation activities — including passenger transportation — by 2025. The Wall Street Journal recently reported that companies worldwide are facing increased pressure from their many stakeholders to demonstrate progress against sustainability goals, but supply chain professionals need better tools, technology and cross-industry collaboration to do so.

FourKites’ latest sustainability capabilities include:

• More granular and accurate Scope 31 emissions calculations. FourKites now incorporates load weight into its emissions calculations to provide shippers with more accurate estimates of Scope 3 emissions across all modes. This capability is particularly valuable for less-than-truckload and air shipments, for example, where a shipper’s freight accounts for only a fraction of a vehicle’s total load.

• SmartWay-ready data aggregation. FourKites will provide shippers and carriers with comprehensive, export-ready data for their annual reporting of efficiency and air quality performance to the EPA’s SmartWay2 program. While SmartWay rankings help shippers and carriers improve their overall performance by using more and better SmartWay Carrier Partners, pulling together the data across large companies can be arduous. FourKites’ new capabilities relieve customers of significant time and effort in preparing their submissions.

• SmartWay carrier sustainability rankings will also be integrated into FourKites’ carrier onboarding tools, seamlessly giving shippers and carriers the critical performance data they need to build a stronger, higher-performing roster of partners.

“By using FourKites’ Sustainability Dashboard, we were able to show the EPA how we are tracking carbon emissions,” said Amy Keen, logistics analyst at Haworth. “The fact that we have that information at our fingertips makes things really easy. We’re also in the process of doing a global assessment of our corporate footprint, and the information we can pull now is going to be so helpful.”

In addition to FourKites’ Sustainability Hub, solutions like Dynamic Yard® and Appointment Manager can optimize time slots and yard processes to significantly reduce on-site truck dwell time and CO2 emissions.

“The combination of new government regulations and increased public demand for accountability has driven the need for sustainable supply chain logistics,” said FourKites Chief Product Officer Priya Rajagopalan. “We see more supply chain leaders embracing sustainability efforts as a key lever in driving more efficient and profitable businesses, and we are excited to bring them these powerful new capabilities to help them achieve their goals.”