Integrating air pollution and black carbon into the GLEC Framework

Poor air quality significantly threatens human health in many densely populated urban areas, both in developing and developed countries. Businesses often claim they cannot calculate their air pollution emissions, making reduction efforts challenging. This issue is particularly concerning in logistics, especially at ports where freight transport is concentrated in limited spaces, and even more so when ports are near urban areas.

In 2017, Smart Freight Centre (SFC) and partners published the Black Carbon Methodology for the logistics sector, providing guidelines for the voluntary measurement and reporting of black carbon emissions from freight transport by air, inland waterways, rail, road, and sea, as well as transshipment centers. This methodology aligns with the Global Logistics Emissions Council (GLEC) Framework and can be adapted to calculate emissions of other Short-Lived Climate Pollutants (SLCPs) with some modifications. However, the methodology needs updating to reflect current real-world conditions and requires further research to validate regional factors for more accurate assessments.

By revising the Black Carbon Methodology and integrating other SLCPs into the GLEC framework, the project aims to unify efforts to address climate change and air pollution, acknowledging that these issues are interconnected.

In collaboration with SFC, SEI will update the Black Carbon Methodology and create emission factors for black carbon and other air pollutants. SEI will also assist in developing and delivering training on the Black Carbon Methodology to stakeholders and support SFC in drafting guidelines for the updated methodology, which will be part of the GLEC Framework.

The project’s goal is to increase awareness and provide the industry and stakeholders with a straightforward method to accurately estimate black carbon and other SLCP emissions for benchmarking, reporting, and making sustainable decisions.