Pledge Gains Accreditation from Global Body for GHG Emissions Measurement

GLEC is the only globally recognised methodology for calculating and reporting on the greenhouse gas footprint across the logistics & transportation supply chain.

To illustrate the current climate emergency, picture a sink filled with greenhouse gases (GHG). At present, the world’s global GHG emissions are filling the sink and we are rapidly getting close to the point of overflow. It is no longer enough to just reduce the rate of flow into the bathtub; we must now also widen the drain and remove more GHGs from the atmosphere. Is the real-world situation a little more complicated than this? Yes. Nonetheless, more emissions need to be removed from the atmosphere if we are going to follow the IPCC’s (the UN body analysing climate change) recommendations of limiting global warming to 1.5ºC above pre-industrial levels.

Why is the GLEC accreditation important for Pledge’s customers?

Pledge underwent a rigorous diligence process and The Smart Freight Centre confirmed that our methodology for measuring emissions conforms with the GLEC Framework, and that our reporting capability is in line with the GLEC Declaration. Both are aligned with other recognized standards and methodologies for measuring emissions, including ICAO, the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, and the UN-led Global Green Freight Action Plan.

This means that all our current and future clients can be confident that we are adhering to the recognised gold standards for measuring emissions for every transportation journey taken. It also ensures that companies’ upstream vs downstream emissions within Scope 3 are measured using the same methodology, leading to consistency across the industry.

What is Pledge’s approach to calculating emissions?

Pledge’s mission to build best-in-class tools and infrastructure enables businesses to become climate aware and accelerate their transition to net zero. To achieve this, we have built a robust, bottom-up calculation process, which aims to measure emissions at every stage of the shipping journey.

Our initial focus has been on transportation, where we’ve carefully selected eligible calculation methodologies for each mode of transport across the globe.

Units of measurement

Pledge’s emission calculation engine reports emissions in CO₂e, as recommended by the GLEC Framework. CO₂e, also sometimes written as CO₂-equivalent, CO₂eq or other variations, stands for carbon dioxide equivalent. CO₂e then, is a standard unit that can be used to compare emissions side by side, even when those emissions are made up of different greenhouse gases.

Emission types

We calculate total emissions, based on type:

Well-to-Tank (WTT): These are all the emissions which occur between the source of energy (the well) through the energy extraction, processing, storage and delivery — all the way through to its final use (the tank).

Tank-to-Wheel (TTW): These are the emissions produced during transport. Note that TTW is considered to be zero for electricity, hydrogen fuel cells and biofuels.

Well-to-Wheel (WTW): These are the total emissions, which come from the combination of WTT and TTW.

The distinction by type is particularly useful in helping companies to understand their top emitters and to gain insight into where they can make the most impact in terms of reducing their emissions.

Modal coverage

Pledge supports all transport modes, which means that we’re a one-stop-shop for measuring and managing all your transportation-related emissions.

Transparency is key for trustworthy emissions measurement

We pride ourselves on the transparency of our calculations. We are clearly able to display and return all the hypotheses we’ve made when calculating the footprint of a specific shipment. In each case we can pinpoint which emission factor from the GLEC framework has been used and why.