Road Freight: GLEC

💡 High-Level Description

The Global Logistics Emissions Council (GLEC) is a notable entity when it comes to carbon footprint measurement, especially within the realm of logistics. With its ambitious goal to drive emission reduction in logistics, GLEC has produced the GLEC Framework. This is a harmonized method particularly for the road freight sector, integrating existing methods and filling gaps where necessary.

The GLEC Framework for road freight focuses on a "well-to-wheel" approach. This considers the emissions from the production of fuel and its consumption, making it comprehensive. By accounting for vehicle types, load factors, and specific routes, GLEC ensures detailed and accurate carbon assessments. The methodology is particularly beneficial for companies seeking to improve their carbon footprint and align with global sustainability standards.

Sample API Request

{
  "expand": [
    "items"
  ],
  "items": [
    {
      "type": "road_freight",
      "external_reference": "test_1",
      "origin": "BER",
      "destination": "ORY",
      "weight_in_tonnes": 0.75,
      "fuel_type": "diesel",
      "energy_scope": "wtw",
      "truck_type": "rigid_truck_under_26_gvw",
      "temperature_controlled_freight": true,
      "methodology": "GLEC"
    }
  ]
}

API Request Items

• "type": "road_freight" (required)

• "methodology": "GLEC" (required)

• "external_reference": A unique identifier that helps you link the resulting emissions to the requested item. Especially useful if multiple items are requested since SQUAKE cannot guarantee to keep the same order. The maximum length is 128 characters.

• "origin": SQUAKE will try to resolve the origin/destination regardless of its format. Ideally, for addresses use the Post standard, for airports use IATA/ICAO code (format: ^[A-Z]{3,4}$, e.g., "MUC"), for other locations used in trade and transportation use UN/LOCODE codes (format: ^[A-Z]{2}\W?[A-Z2-9]{3}$, e.g., "DEHAM"). You can also pass lat/long (format: ^[-+]?\d{1,3}\.\d{1,10}\s?,\s?[-+]?\d{1,3}\.\d{1,10}$, e.g., "+40.712,-74.006").

• "destination": SQUAKE will try to resolve the origin/destination regardless of its format. Ideally, for addresses use the Post standard, for airports use IATA/ICAO code (format: ^[A-Z]{3,4}$, e.g., "MUC"), for other locations used in trade and transportation use UN/LOCODE codes (format: ^[A-Z]{2}\W?[A-Z2-9]{3}$, e.g., "DEHAM"). You can also pass lat/long (format: ^[-+]?\d{1,3}\.\d{1,10}\s?,\s?[-+]?\d{1,3}\.\d{1,10}$, e.g., "+40.712,-74.006").

• "distance_in_km": Prioritized over origin and destination. If you don't have a distance_in_km, you can use origin and destination and the distance will be automatically resolved. If you pass both distance_in_km and origin/destination, then distance_in_km will be used.

• "weight_in_tonnes": Numeric value.

• "truck_type": North American truck types are van_under_3.5_t, general, auto_carrier, dray, expedited, flatbed, heavy_bulk, ltl_dry_van, mixed, moving, package, refrigerated, specialized, tanker, tl_dry_van. Chinese truck types are articulated_truck_hdv_above_49_t_gvw, articulated_truck_hdv_under_18_t_gvw, articulated_truck_hdv_under_27_t_gvw, articulated_truck_hdv_under_35_t_gvw, articulated_truck_hdv_under_40_t_gvw, articulated_truck_hdv_under_43_t_gvw, articulated_truck_hdv_under_46_t_gvw, articulated_truck_hdv_under_49_t_gvw, articulated_truck_under_24_t_gvw, articulated_truck_under_25_t_gvw, articulated_truck_under_29_t_gvw, articulated_truck_under_31_t_gvw, articulated_truck_under_60_t_gvw, dump_truck_hdv_above_31_t_gvw, dump_truck_hdv_under_16_t_gvw, dump_truck_hdv_under_20_t_gvw, dump_truck_hdv_under_25_t_gvw, dump_truck_hdv_under_31_t_gvw, dump_truck_ldt_under_4.5_t_gvw, dump_truck_mdt_under_10.5_t_gvw, dump_truck_mdt_under_12.5_t_gvw, dump_truck_mdt_under_5.5_t_gvw, dump_truck_mdt_under_7_t_gvw, dump_truck_mdt_under_8.5_t_gvw, dump_truck_under_24_t_gvw, dump_truck_under_25_t_gvw, dump_truck_under_29_t_gvw, dump_truck_under_31_t_gvw, dump_truck_under_60_t_gvw, rigid_truck_hdv_above_31_t_gvw, rigid_truck_ldt_under_4.5_t_gvw, rigid_truck_mdt_under_10.5_t_gvw, rigid_truck_mdt_under_12.5_t_gvw, rigid_truck_mdt_under_16_t_gvw, rigid_truck_mdt_under_20_t_gvw, rigid_truck_mdt_under_25_t_gvw, rigid_truck_mdt_under_31_t_gvw, rigid_truck_mdt_under_5.5_t_gvw, rigid_truck_mdt_under_7_t_gvw, rigid_truck_mdt_under_8.5_t_gvw, rigid_truck_under_24_t_gvw, rigid_truck_under_25_t_gvw, rigid_truck_under_29_t_gvw, rigid_truck_under_31_t_gvw, rigid_truck_under_60_t_gvw, truck__hdv_above_12_t_gvw, truck__ldv_under_4.5_t_gvw, and truck__mdv_under_12_t_gvw. For more detailed mapping of load characteristics, fuel and truck types refer to the GLEC database. Values are artic_truck_40_gvw_lightweight_trailer, artic_truck_under_34_gvw, artic_truck_under_40_gvw_si_engine, artic_truck_under_40_gvw, artic_truck_under_44_gvw, artic_truck_under_60_gvw, artic_truck_under_72_gvw, auto_carrier, dray, expedited, flatbed, general, heavy_bulk, ltl_dry_van, mixed, moving, package, refrigerated, rigid_truck_under_12_gvw, rigid_truck_under_20_gvw, rigid_truck_under_26_gvw, rigid_truck_under_32_gvw, rigid_truck_under_7.5_gvw, specialized, tanker, or tl_dry_van. Default value is van_under_3.5_t.
• "energy_scope": Values are ttw or wtw. Default value is wtw.

• "load_characteristic": Values are average, heavy, light, or container. Default value is average.

• "fuel_type": Values are average, diesel, petrol, lng, lpg, bio-lng, hydrogen, electricity or cng. Default value is average.

• Default values

  • “truck_type”: "rigid-truck_under_7.5"

  • “fuel_type”: "diesel"

  • “load_characteristic”: "average"

• Calculation specifics

  For vans (up to 3.5 t GVW) a 13% uplift to the regional values for Europe and South America is applied.

  For heavier vehicles (> 3.5 t GVW) a 22% uplift to the regional values for Europe and South America is applied.

  For vans (up to 3.5 t GVW) apply a 15% uplift to the regional values for Europe, South America, Asia and Africa.

  For heavier vehicles (> 3.5 t GVW) apply a 12% uplift to the regional values for Europe, South America, Asia and Africa.

Sample API Response

{
    "carbon_quantity": 123068,
    "carbon_unit": "gram",
    "items": [
        {
            "carbon_quantity": 123068,
            "carbon_unit": "gram",
            "external_reference": "test_1",
            "type": "road_freight",
            "methodology": "GLEC",
            "distance": 1127.0,
            "distance_unit": "kilometer",
            "algorithm_specifics": {
                "algorithm_type": "glec",
                "data": {
                    "co2e_in_g": 123068,
                    "co2e_emissions_wtw_in_g": 123068,
                    "co2e_per_tonne_km_in_g": 130,
                    "tonne_km": 845,
                    "reporting_year": 2024,
                    "transportation_mode": "road_transportation"
                }
            }
        }
    ]
}

Smart Freight Center helped us fine tune our calculations of all freight and logistics related operations in accordance with the GLEC framework.

Bibliography

• Smart Freight Center (2024). Global Logistics Emissions Council Framework V3.1.

• Towards efficient and zero emissions (n.d.). Smart Freight Centre. Retrieved from https://www.smartfreightcentre.org/en/