Road freight accounts for almost two-thirds of global freight transport emissions, making it one of the most critical and most challenging sectors to decarbonize. Fragmented networks, diverse carrier maturities, and inconsistent availability of low-emission fuels often hinder shippers from translating climate ambitions into meaningful operational progress.
A new white paper published by Smart Freight Centre (SFC), developed together with Procter & Gamble, Normec Verifavia, and GRUBER Logistics, demonstrates how a robust chain-of-custody model, book and claim, can provide a practical, credible, and scalable solution to accelerate road freight decarbonization.
Why This Matters
As global pressure increases to reduce supply chain emissions, shippers and carriers face a key challenge: How to adopt low-emission transport options at scale when infrastructure, fuel availability, and operational structures vary widely?
The white paper, "Empowering Shippers: How Book and Claim Plus a Clear Action Plan Can Unlock Heavy Road Freight Decarbonization," presents a structured pathway that allows shippers to drive meaningful emissions reductions, even within an imperfect and highly fragmented system.
Book and claim enable shippers to procure low-emission transport services regardless of where low-carbon fuels are physically used, enabling flexibility while ensuring environmental integrity through rigorous verification.
Key Insights from the White Paper
A practical chain-of-custody model
Book and claim procedures allow transport chain actors to support the use of low-emission fuels in one part of the network while claiming the associated environmental benefits elsewhere, provided that strong safeguards, traceability controls, and verification processes are in place.
P&G's Standard Operating Procedure (SOP)
The publication showcases Procter & Gamble's Road Biofuel SOP, which:
- sets clear requirements for transparency and traceability,
- prevents double counting, and
- supports collaboration across carriers with varied operational maturity.
This SOP has become a practical blueprint for enabling credible low-emission transportation service (LETS) procurement.
Third-party verification for integrity
As an approved verifier under the SFC Assurance Program, Normec Verifavia contributed technical insight on verification requirements, auditability, and the safeguards needed for credible market-based mitigation.
The white paper outlines how third-party verification, conducted in line with SFC's Market Based Measures Specification for Logistics Emissions Reporting, ensures consistency, trust, and environmental legitimacy across the system.
Real-world application
A case study from GRUBER Logistics illustrates how book and claim functions in practice, highlighting implementation steps, carrier-shipper collaboration, and how market-based approaches support operational decarbonization.
The Path Forward
The white paper concludes that book and claim, when backed by strong processes, standards, and third-party verification, provides a practical pathway to scale low-emission fuels, ensure credible reporting, address infrastructure gaps, and help shippers advance climate goals.
This work has been developed in the context of the Horizon Europe-funded IKIGAI project, which supports common standards and trusted emissions reporting across the logistics sector.
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