Getting better with transparency

Speaking at the fourth Shipping and Offshore Corporate and Social Responsibility Forum, Chris Welsh, secretary general, GSF, told delegates that reporting carbon emissions within logistics supply chains is essential to demonstrate sustainability to customers.

Mr Welsh said that leading edge shippers, charters and carriers are making substantial progress in establishing common methodologies for measuring, recording and verifying carbon emissions.

But he added: “The drive is led by customers who are calling for greater transparency in carbon emissions data to benchmark the energy efficiency of carriers so that they can take appropriate interventions to reduce supply chain carbon emissions.”

During his presentation entitled Driving transformation through the value chain – the demand for CSR by shippers, Mr Welsh said that being at the forefront of changes in their market sectors should be enough to convince shippers of the need to be more transparent.

In addition, consumers and customers associate brands with doing business in an environmentally ethical way and are generally regarded as better than their competitors.

GSF has stated that it supports the ongoing work of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) to develop a data collection system for measuring fuel usage across shipping, which it regards as an essential first step to creating an international carbon reporting standard.