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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