CSRD for transport companies

The Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) is EU regulation that forces large companies to report on their environmental, social and governance (ESG) impact in a structured, audited way. It came into force in stages from 2024 and now drives the entire procurement chain — including transport.

Whether your transport company is directly in scope is one question. Whether your customers will pass CSRD requirements down to you is a different one — and the answer is almost always yes.

Who CSRD applies to directly

A company falls under CSRD if it meets at least two of:

• More than 250 employees, or
• More than €50M turnover, or
• More than €25M balance sheet total.

Listed SMEs are phased in from 2026/2027.

If your transport company is smaller than this — congratulations, you’re not a CSRD entity. But:

Why CSRD still affects every transport company

CSRD requires reporting on Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions:

• Scope 1 – fuel burned in your own vehicles.
• Scope 2 – electricity you buy (offices, depots, EV charging).
• Scope 3 – everything indirect, including transport bought from carriers.

Your shipper customers’ Scope 3 includes the transport you deliver. They need that data from you, per shipment, in an audit-grade form.

In practice this means:

• Procurement tenders now ask for CO₂ per shipment.
• Existing customers send ESG questionnaires.
• “I don’t have the data” is a fast way to lose a contract.

What CSRD-ready transport data looks like

Per shipment, you need to provide:

1. Distance driven for that shipment.
2. Vehicle type and fuel used.
3. Emission factor with a recognised source (GLEC, DEFRA, ISO 14083).
4. Allocation rule (weight, volume, t·km) — and apply it consistently.
5. Both Well-to-Wheel (WTW) and Tank-to-Wheel (TTW) numbers.
6. Empty kilometres included, not hidden.

See how CO₂ reporting works for the calculation details, and Scope 3 emissions in transport for the customer-side perspective.

What auditors look for

• Traceability – every reported number must trace to a trip, a vehicle, a shipment.
• Consistency – same allocation rule across the whole report.
• Recognised standard – GLEC Framework or ISO 14083, ideally both.
• No gaps – missing trips or vehicles must be explained.
• No double counting – between carriers, between modes, between branches.

Excel-once-a-year fails most of these. Per-trip calculation in your operational system passes all of them.

How a TMS prepares you for CSRD

• CO₂ calculated per trip and per shipment, not at year-end.
• WTW + TTW stored side by side.
• Emission factors per vehicle, traceable to a source.
• Per-customer reports, ready to attach to ESG questionnaires.
• Empty kilometres included automatically.

In Routix this all flows from the Emissions module, with no extra data entry beyond what the operation needs anyway.

Related concepts

• How CO₂ reporting works
• Scope 3 emissions in transport
• What is a TMS?

See this in Routix

If CSRD requests are already landing in your inbox, start on www.routix.com  and then look at the Emissions dashboard in Routix. That is where per-shipment WTW and TTW data, allocation logic and customer-ready reporting come together.