Scope 3 emissions in transport

The GHG Protocol divides corporate emissions into three scopes:

• Scope 1 — direct emissions from owned/controlled sources (your own trucks, your own boilers).
• Scope 2 — indirect emissions from purchased energy (electricity, heat).
• Scope 3 — all other indirect emissions in the value chain (purchased goods, transport bought from carriers, business travel, end-of-life of products, etc.).

For most shipper companies, Scope 3 is the largest bucket by far — often 70–90% of total emissions. And inside Scope 3, transport is one of the biggest contributors.

That single fact is why your customers ask you, the carrier or forwarder, for CO₂ data per shipment.

Why this affects every transport company

If you operate trucks, your fuel burn is your Scope 1. But for the shipper paying you, that same fuel burn is their Scope 3 — and they have to report it.

So even if you are well below CSRD thresholds yourself, your customers’ CSRD obligations cascade down to you in the form of:

• ESG questionnaires.
• CO₂ data requirements in tenders.
• Sustainability clauses in new contracts.
• Year-on-year reduction commitments your customers expect you to meet with them.

What Scope 3 reporting needs from a carrier

Per shipment delivered for the customer:

1. Distance for the trip.
2. Mode and vehicle type (HGV class, fuel type, Euro class).
3. Cargo weight or volume, for allocation.
4. Emission factor with a recognised source.
5. Both WTW and TTW numbers (see CO₂ reporting).
6. Allocation rule, applied consistently.

Increasingly, shippers ask for this in ISO 14083 / GLEC-compatible form.

Allocation: the hard part

A trip carrying shipments for four different customers needs its CO₂ split between them. The most defensible methods:

• By weight (kg-km share) – simple and widely accepted.
• By volume (m³-km share) – better for light, bulky cargo.
• By t·km – the GLEC and ISO 14083 default.
• By revenue share – sometimes used, but mixes commercial with environmental data.

Pick one method per organisation, document it, and apply it everywhere. Auditors look for consistency more than perfection.

Carrier strategies that move the needle

• Reduce empty kilometres through better backhaul management.
• Use cleaner fleet (Euro 6, HVO, electric, biogas) where feasible.
• Multimodal / intermodal legs for long-haul.
• Tighter capacity utilisation — fewer half-empty trucks per shipment.
• Driver training for fuel-efficient driving (eco-driving).

Each of these shows up as a lower CO₂ per shipment on the customer’s Scope 3 — which makes you a better supplier on the next tender.

How Routix helps

• CO₂ calculated per trip and per shipment automatically (WTW + TTW).
• Allocation rule configurable and applied consistently.
• Per-customer reports ready to deliver into customer Scope 3 reports.
• Empty kilometres included in the report (not hidden).

See Emissions and how CO₂ reporting works.

Related concepts

• How CO₂ reporting works
• CSRD reporting for transport companies
• What are empty miles?

See this in Routix

If customers ask you for Scope 3 numbers, start on www.routix.com  and then go to the Emissions dashboard in Routix. That is where shipment-level CO₂, allocation and customer reporting become deliverable instead of manual work.