Exploring Carbon Offsets for Freight Transportation Decarbonization

Abstract

Carbon offsets present a mechanism to leverage corporate sustainability commitments to fund fleet renewal programs, decommissioning aging trucks and replacing them with greener vehicles. This study evaluates the feasibility of this approach from a financial and logistical perspective. First, the demand for transport carbon offsets is forecasted using inputs from global greenhouse gas emissions data, corporate sustainability commitments related to transportation, and CDP corporate disclosure data, pricing the potential mature market size at over $300M per year. Secondly, a novel method is defined to quantify the avoided emissions from decommissioning for a variety of vehicle types, leveraging industry standards for carbon accounting such as the Global Logistics Emissions Council Framework. Finally, the study breaks down the costs associated with a fleet renewal carbon offset program, and provides operational recommendations and best practices for fleet renewal programs. The analytical tools and frameworks developed in this study can be utilized to support the design and implementation of a transportation-based carbon offset program that has the potential to drive significant impact in global carbon emissions reduction.