Redwood Logistics plans to provide emissions tracking technology and the ability to purchase verified carbon offsets to its customers later this year.
“This paired with leveraging the best calculation standards available will provide our customers access to reliable emissions of their total freight footprint that’s difficult to measure otherwise,” Michael Reed, chief product officer at Redwood, told .
“With data existing across systems and varying levels of accuracy, we have the integration capability and flexibility to fetch the right data and adapt it to calculate reliable emissions metrics,” Reed said.
“Redwood Hyperion provides detailed load-by-load supply chain emissions metrics using primary data direct from source systems.”
Carbon offsets for freight movements
There is a lot of debate about how beneficial carbon offsets are. If they are not purchased through reputable organizations, they may not be monitored accurately. Even with trustworthy organizations, some offsetting strategies such as planting trees cannot guarantee that carbon will be sequestered in the case of a fire, flood or drought.
But the freight industry is difficult to decarbonize, especially if companies want to reduce emissions quickly without having to pay larger upfront costs for alternative fuel or electric vehicles. That’s where offsets come in.
Voluntary carbon credit market
Redwood did not disclose which projects and registries it will use for carbon offsets. Reed said customers will be able to choose among biodiversity projects, nature-based projects or projects geographically close to their operations.
“Until alternatives like EVs or biofuel become the norm, moving freight burns fuel. Carbon offsets will be a factor towards carbon-neutral shipping efforts and an incentive to improve your carbon footprint,” Reed said.
Redwood Eco Advisory can recommend strategies to reduce emissions, such as modal conversion, load consolidation or network optimization, Reed said. What emissions are left can be offset using Redwood Hyperion.
The history of Hyperion
Coastal redwoods can absorb as much as 250 times the amount of carbon dioxide as other trees, according to the release.
“As the world moves in a greener, cleaner and more efficient direction, it is paramount that our supply chains lead the way,” Reed said. “Going carbon neutral can seem daunting and complex, but we’re working to change that.”
