THE transport and logistics supply chain will be the focus of a new partnership between Melbourne start-up Scope3 and Swinburne University of Technology. The goal is to develop a bespoke prototype system that will meet accelerating requirements for accurate real time collection and reporting of “indirect” emissions data.

The GHG Protocol Corporate Standard classifies a company’s GHG emissions into three ‘scopes’. Scope 1 emissions are direct emissions from owned or controlled sources. Scope 2 emissions are indirect emissions from the generation of purchased energy. Scope 3 emissions are all indirect emissions (not included in scope 2) that occur in the value chain of the reporting company, including both upstream and downstream transport emissions.

“Significant issues exist with data sourcing, accuracy, timeliness and transparency in current Scope 3 data collection and management practice,” Michael Blake, founder and CEO of Scope3, said.

“This is especially so in Australia where GHG emissions reporting is not yet mandatory across the board and the sheer complexity of data collection and reporting means that many who could participate and benefit from reporting are simply not participating.”

ADVERTISEMENT  

This new collaboration between Scope3, the Swinburne Business School’s Information Systems for Social Impact Research Group researchers from Swinburne’s School of Software and Electrical Engineering, is funded under the auspices of the Smart Cities Research Institute. It targets the development of real-time GHG measurement system for all modes of road transport, including last mile delivery, with next-stage development of a digital platform to report, organise and manage the data, and the building of machine learning models to automatically identify improvement opportunities.

“We believe this is potentially world-leading work with significant benefits for the transport, logistics and supply chain industries’ contribution to the climate change fight, not least in equipping service providers to meet the growing expectations of clients large and small, and to meet and exceed the requirements of an inevitable tightening of the regulatory environment governing emissions,” Mr Blake said.