GLEC: Your strategic partner for more sustainable logistics
The logistics sector accounts for at least 16% of France’s environmental footprint. This estimate includes freight transport, consumer travel, and storage and packaging. Historically, this sector has struggled to adopt consistent methods for calculating emissions. The lack of data standardization, the diversity of distribution methods, and the absence of a clear framework hinder the implementation of robust environmental policies within supply chains. These complex problems call for concrete solutions.
In this context, the GLEC Framework has emerged as an essential international standard for measuring and reporting emissions related to the sector. Designed in alignment with the GHG Protocol and recently formalized by the ISO 14083 standard, the GLEC aims to create a common language for all logistics stakeholders and facilitate communication among them.
But the issue is not limited to standards alone: it is also about providing companieswith accessible operationaltools that enable each user to quantify, compare, and manage their environmental performance. Thus, the ability to transparently disclose one’s environmental footprint through clear reporting becomes both a strategic lever and a sustainability imperative.
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A Structured Approach to Accounting Challenges in Logistics
Reducing GHG emissions from freight transport can no longer be left to chance. Every logistics project—regardless of the profile of the company or its partners—must draw on shared resources to structure its efforts. The Smart Freight Center (SFC), through the GLEC Framework, provides an international reference framework that guides both transportation service providers and staff responsible for environmental management. It helps ensure the reliability of emissions accounting and facilitates its integration into operational and strategic processes.
⚖️ Low-cost airlines
The modern supply chain is fragmented, involves multiple stakeholders, and utilizes multiple modes of transportation. This complexity makes it particularly difficult to consistently account for transportation-related emissions. Between outsourced road distribution, international maritime shipments, and outsourced warehouses, datausers face a traceability challenge. However, without a common method, it is impossible to compare GHG inventories or effectively manage their reduction.
The GLEC Framework, developed by the SFC, provides a structured response to this situation. It is designed to cover all modes of transportation (road, rail, maritime, air, and inland waterways) by incorporating real-time operational data. It thus enables each user to quantify their environmental impact with a level of precision tailored to their maturity level.
🔦 Standardization Is Necessary for Transparency and Environmental Reporting
Recognized by the GHG Protocol, the GLEC Framework has become the methodological basis for the ISO 14083 standard, which took effect in 2023. This standardization provides a common language for companies, public authorities, and investors to discuss environmental performance.
The benefits are numerous: improved communication with customers, credible and verified ESG reporting, compliance with European requirements such as the CSRD, and, above all, strategic management of environmental impact by location, activity, or type of service. GLEC also helps inform internal impact assessments, identify opportunities to reduce emissions (modal shift, pooling, load optimization), and provide an objective basis for investment decisions, all of which have a direct impact on the company’s finances.
🔍 Incorporate environmental impact
Incorporating carbon into a company’s financial statements is no longer a luxury, but a necessity based on economic, social, and environmental considerations. Beyond regulatory requirements, this approach reflects a growing awareness: every person and every stakeholder in the supply chain has a role to play in reducing the environmental footprint.
This approach is welcome in a world where climate issues are closely linked to our health and the resilience of our communities. By measuring and managing their environmental footprint, organizations can balance performance, responsibility, and transparency, while contributing to a more sustainable future.
Data, Tools, and Implementation
Faced with the growing complexity of emissions accounting, many companies are wondering what steps to take to structure their approach. The reasons vary: meeting regulatory requirements, improving environmental performance, or fostering constructive dialogue with logistics partners. Regardless of a user’slevel of experience, it is essential to have concrete answers and proven methodologies to move from intention to action.
How to ensure the long-term viability and growth of your business through a successful low-carbon strategy.
🛢️ Data Sources: A Critical Operational Challenge for Logistics
The accuracy of CO2 emissions calculations depends on the quality of the available data: actual distances, weight transported, mode of transport, load factor, etc. However, in many cases, the information is incomplete, scattered across different systems, or missing altogether, which poses a major problem.
The GLEC Framework offers a tiered approach based on the level of accuracy, depending on the available data. It encourages companies to strive for a high level of quality (using primary data ) while allowing for default estimates, particularly for small and medium-sized enterprises.
This methodological framework provides a structure for data collection, helps resolve issues related to format heterogeneity, and enhances users' ability to communicate with their partners.
💻Available tools: from Excel to the cloud platform
GLEC can be applied using Excel files, but an increasing numberof digitaltools are available, ranging from open-source calculators to specialized platforms. This is where software solutions like the one developed by Decarbo’Solution® stand out.
Accessible from any browser, Decarbo’Solution® is a measurement platform aligned with the GHG Protocol and ISO 14067 and 14064 standards. It provides a clear overview of emissions by trip, location, activity, or type of service. Its features include automatic data import, graphical visualizations, and a reduction tracking module, enabling effective carbon management.
💚From Information to Ownership: Engaging Staff with the Right Tools
The success of a CSR initiative also depends on the teams’ ability to learn about, understand, and adopt the available methods. It is not enough simply to have resources; staff—both at headquarters and in operational offices —must also be able to use them effectively on a daily basis. In this situation, clear guidance and appropriate tools are especially welcome.
To achieve this, articles, practical guides, and help pages accessible from any browser are essential. They help explain technical concepts in layman’s terms, support skill development, and ensure the consistent dissemination of best practices throughout the organization. There are many reasons for this effort: to improvethe experience of everyone involved, ensure consistency in actions, and maximize the company’s positive impact.
Challenges and Prospects for French Companies
Every logistics operation is scrutinized for its environmental impact, leaving users to grapple with a complex situation: navigating a growing number of regulatory requirements, integrating disparate data sources, and meeting rising expectations for transparency. In response to this challenge, solutions such as the one developed by the Decarbo’Solution® platform offer a structured approach to regaining control over GHG emissions calculations and turning them into a true driver of transformation.
🚚A transportation sector under pressure
Freight transport accounts for nearly 331 MtCO₂e in France, making it the second-largest source of emissions in the country’s carbon footprint. France’s climate commitments require a 55% reduction in emissions from this sector by 2030 compared to 1990 levels.
In this context, companies must demonstrate the validity of their efforts using verified data. Assessing environmental impact is no longer just an option but a strategic imperative—both for securing financing and for meeting regulatory requirements (CSRD, green taxonomy, SFDR)—because assessing carbon impact is now critical to companies’ finances and their future missions.
The partnership between Decarbo’Solution® and TK’Blue is part of this initiative. Together, they offer companies a robust solution for assessing and certifying transportation-related CO₂ emissions. TK’Blue, a platform specializing in measuring the environmental performance of supply chains, provides its traceability and scoring tools, while Decarbo’Solution® contributes its strategic expertise in sustainability consulting.
This partnership aims to make carbon traceability not only possible, but also actionable and valuable for companies concerned about their environmental impact and regulatory compliance.
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✨ The Global Climate Initiative’s pivotal role as a steering platform
The Global Climate Initiative offers a comprehensive, unique, and practical solution to implementation challenges. It stands out for its compatibility with the GLEC Framework, its ease of use, and its adaptability to businesses of all sizes.
Available online, the Decarbo’Solution® platform allows users to model their emissions, track changes over time, and certify their results. Officially recognized as aconsulting firm, Decarbo’Solution® also provides proof of expertise that enhances the credibility of the initiatives undertaken.
It facilitates communication across business units, cooperation with service providers, and the integration of data into non-financial reports.
Carbon management is becoming a cross-functional priority: it encompasses procurement, logistics, corporate social responsibility, and finance. Integrating GLEC methodologies and platforms such as Decarbo’Solution® into a company’s environmental transition not only helps it meet regulatory requirements but also enables it to develop a long-term sustainability strategy.
This enables companies to achieve key milestones in their environmental initiatives:
- Identifyemission hot spots.
- Compare their performance to industry studies.
- Prioritize green investments.
- Mobilize their teams around a shared effort to achieve their missions.
- Use relevant articles to understand best practices.
This paradigm shift transforms the carbon reporting process into a strategic management tool, rather than a mere compliance exercise.
In a world where investors, customers, and regulators are now closely scrutinizing companies’ carbon footprints, the adoption of robust methodologies such as the GLEC Framework—supported by the Smart Freight Center—has become essential. It is crucial for every user to have access to tools that are simple and integrated into internal management processes.
Compatible platforms, such as the one offered by the Global Climate Initiative, facilitate this work of measurement, monitoring, and management by transforming a technical requirement into a strategic lever. By structuring data collection, facilitating communication and cooperation across departments, and presenting the results in a clear and verified reporting format, they add significant value to environmental footprint management in logistics.
