Why and how can you reduce the GHG emissions of your travel and transport operations and improve your Carbon Competitiveness®?

The environmental impact of travel and transport in France

According to the Haut Conseil pour le Climat's annual Carbon Neutrality Report June 2019 on Carbon Neutrality, transport is responsible for 31% of greenhouse gas emissions in France, making it the country's biggest contributor to emissions.

So, in order to comply with the ambitions of the Paris Agreement, and to avoid future changes in taxation, calls for tender and regulations, companies are strongly advised to commit now to a process of decarbonizing their travel and transport activities.

According to Data Lab's Chiffres Clés du Transports-Edition 2022, road transport is responsible for 94.7% of the sector's emissions in 2020, i.e. 107.5 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent. This sector therefore offers considerable potential for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Here are just a few of the measures you can implement to decarbonize travel and transport.

How can you decarbonize and optimize your travel and transport operations?

This decarbonization enables companies both to improve their operational efficiency and to strengthen their commitment to sustainable development.

There are seven key actions to implement:

🔎 Analyze the current carbon footprint of your travel and transport activities

Analyzing the current carbon footprint of the company's travel and transport flows is the first step.

This inventory makes us aware of the most carbon-intensive items to be treated as a priority.

There are then six actions to follow:

➡️ Step 1: Data collection

All information on logistics flows and movements: number of kilometers per operation, type of vehicle used, type and consumption of energy, mode (road, sea, air, rail, river), tonnage, loading rate, empty run rate.

➡️ Step 2: Conversion to CO2 equivalent

The data collected is converted into equivalent CO2 emissions. For this, a reliable platform is required, open to both principals and carriers, at the risk of being neither compliant nor representative. The GCI platform makes it possible to convert this data in full compliance, using standardized or primary emissions factors obtained directly from carriers, and thus to obtain reliable results that can be relied on by third parties.

➡️ Step 3: Categorize trips

The next step is to classify travel into different categories, such as employee travel, company vehicles, business travel, logistical flows and so on. This provides an overview of the carbon footprint by category.

➡️ Step 4: Analysis and interpretation of results

Analysis of the data collected, converted into equivalent CO2 emissions, is a key step in identifying major sources of emissions, trends and opportunities for improvement. For example, we may find that air travel accounts for a significant proportion of emissions, and decide to promote alternatives such as virtual meetings, and sea transport for goods.

➡️ Step 5: Setting objectives and action plan

Based on the results of the analysis, we can then set targets for reducing CO2 emissions and develop an action plan to achieve them: encouraging car-sharing, adopting electric vehicles, promoting telecommuting, pooling, modal shift, etc.

➡️ Step 6: Monitoring and reporting

The final step is to set up regular monitoring of the company's progress in reducing its carbon footprint, and issue periodic reports to share this information with internal and external stakeholders, demonstrating the collective commitment to sustainability.

🔵 The GCI platform is able to support each of these stages, and enables us to identify, calculate, reduce, and contribute/offset the emissions associated with these transports and trips, in full compliance.

Thanks to its multiple services and fluid user platform, GCI enables you to analyze the carbon footprint associated with your transport, either independently or with the help of a GCI-approved expert:

✅Identify areas for improvement (comparative analyses, uncertainty calculations, benchmarks, waterfall diagrams, simulations, projections, etc.) for actions

✅ Integrating the action plan into the GHG inventory

✅ Facilitate data collection with differentiated questionnaires, divided intuitively into 7 categories covering all regulatory items

✅Follow and monitor your SBT (Science Base Target) or SNBC (Stratégie Nationale Bas Carbone) trajectory, and compare it in real time

📈 Optimize to reduce emissions and save money!

Optimization is an interesting action in a decarbonization approach, as it maximizes the effectiveness of a performance, while reducing waste and improving operational and environmental efficiency.

Optimizing the vehicle fleet

Optimizing the vehicle fleet reduces operating costs, minimizes greenhouse gas emissions, and improves the company's overall transport efficiency. How can we do it? In five simple steps:

Needs analysis :

👉 Carry out a detailed assessment of the company's transport and travel needs.

👉 Identify types of trip, distances covered, schedules, loads carried, etc.

This analysis helps determine the size, composition and characteristics required for the fleet.

Rationalizing fleet size:

👉 Reduce the number of vehicles in your fleet by eliminating unnecessary or under-used vehicles.

👉Use vehicle tracking and management tools to identify opportunities to consolidate and optimize vehicle use.

Adopting more fuel-efficient vehicles:

👉 Replace older, less fuel-efficient vehicles with more fuel-efficient ones.

👉 Favoring hybrid, electric or low CO2 emission vehicles.

👉 Choose vehicles adapted to the company's specific needs.

Implementing preventive maintenance :

👉 Require a regular maintenance program for vehicles to maximize their energy efficiency and extend their lifespan.

👉 Be sure to keep tires properly inflated, perform regular oil changes and check engine management systems to optimize vehicle performance.

The use of fleet management tools :

👉 Adopt fleet management systems that track and optimize vehicle use.

These tools provide real-time data on fuel consumption, routes, maintenance, driver performance, etc., making it easier to take informed decisions to improve fleet efficiency.

Optimize delivery routes

Improved planning of delivery routes cuts operating costs, saves time and reduces the company's environmental impact by minimizing the distances covered by vehicles. One effective method of optimizing these routes is to group deliveries. By identifying shipments that can be combined on the same route, the number of trips required to reach similar geographical areas is reduced. This approach results in significant fuel savings and a substantial reduction in CO2 emissions.

Ask your carriers for the precise "carbon weight" of their transport services!

It's only by knowing the "carbon weight" of your various service providers that it's possible to make informed choices, and favor the one that offers the least carbon-intensive solution. This reporting obligation has been in force since October 1, 2013 (decree 2011-1336).

The GCI platform makes it possible to implement this positive carbon discrimination® of suppliers highlighting their Carbon Competitiveness®.

The platform enables companies to collaborate with their suppliers to identify decarbonization solutions and work together to find ways of reducing CO2 emissions throughout the supply chain.

Determining "carbon weight" is now simple and accessible thanks to two key services:

✅ GCI's "propagation and tracking" service: which automatically sends an e-mail requesting issue factor(s) to its various suppliers and service providers, and provides a tracking dashboard.

✅ "Carbon" analysis of offers: this service enables the company to assess the carbon footprint of the supplies or services offered by its suppliers, enabling it to give preference to those with a lower "carbon weight". In this way, the company promotes more sustainable choices.

The GCI platform thus becomes an invaluable ally in the decarbonization process, helping to implement targeted actions that are essential to achieving our transport footprint reduction objectives.

Strengthen its CSR commitment by decarbonizing travel and transport

Decarbonizing transport is a key aspect of CSR for many companies, as it not only helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but also improves the QWL of their employees.

Here are two actions that act on these two levers:

🖥️ Strengthening the teleworking policy

Telecommuting reduces the number of home-to-work journeys made by employees, helping the company to cut CO2 emissions generated by transport by limiting daily commuting.

What's more, it can also reduce the need for business travel such as face-to-face meetings, or business trips, replaced by virtual meetings thanks to user-friendly online collaboration tools.

Teleworking also offers employees greater flexibility in organizing their schedules, and reduces the source of stress associated with daily commuting. An effective telecommuting policy thus helps to improve employees' energy and well-being, while contributing to the decarbonization of transport.

🚌 Implementing a mobility plan

The aim of a mobility plan is to encourage more sustainable modes of transport and reduce the use of individual internal combustion engine vehicles, thereby helping to reduce CO2 emissions. Its implementation in a company is a concrete measure. It is an effective way of promoting alternatives such as car-sharing, which reduces the number of vehicles on the road and maximizes the use of existing vehicles.

Choose eco-responsible freight carriers

Choosing an eco-responsible carrier, whether international or national, is of vital importance in the drive to decarbonize transport. Whether in aviation, maritime, rail or road transport, carriers play an essential role. That's why TK'Blue, the extra-financial rating and labeling agency for the transport sector, has developed an interface specifically dedicated to these issues. This interface offers three key tools to guide you in your choice of carrier:

✅ A performance comparator: to help you choose the carrier that best meets your environmental objectives.

✅ Improvement plans: to identify levers for action and progress.

✅ Assessing carriers' energy and environmental performance.

Thanks to these tools, companies wishing to optimize their freight movements while respecting the ambitions of the Paris Agreement can now do so with complete peace of mind and efficiency.

Contribute to offsetting your residual emissions

Including serious carbon contribution/offset initiatives in your transportation decarbonization strategy is an effective way of reducing your footprint in this sector.

GCI offers a wide choice of certified contribution projects, including low-carbon initiatives in France, as well as Gold Standard and VCS-certified initiatives in Europe, Latin America, Africa and Asia. Each initiative is aligned with specific Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), enabling organizations to select the projects that best fit their activities and have the most positive impact.