The TCI-IIMB Supply Chain Sustainability Lab at IIMB has earned India’s first ISO 14083 certification for its Transportation Emissions Measurement Tool (TEMT), enabling accurate tracking and reduction of transportation-related emissions.

The TCI-IIMB Supply Chain Sustainability Lab at the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB), established in collaboration with Transport Corporation of India Ltd (TCI), has become India’s first organisation to receive ISO 14083 certification for its groundbreaking digital platform, the Transportation Emissions Measurement Tool (TEMT). This certification demonstrates the platform’s ability to accurately quantify and report greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from freight transportation activities. It assists organisations in measuring, managing, and ultimately reducing their transportation-related emissions per regulatory requirements and sustainability objectives.

In India, the transportation industry accounts for around 14 percent of total GHG emissions, with freight transportation contributing roughly 40 percent of CO₂ emissions. Without intervention or cleaner technology, transportation emissions are anticipated to increase by 4-fold between 2016 and 2050, potentially reaching 1.17 billion tonnes of CO₂ by 2050 and increasing transport’s contribution of overall emissions to 19 percent. Accurate measurement is an important first step in reducing harmful pollutants. Before organisations can take effective action to reduce their emissions, they must have reliable measurement methods. The Transportation Emissions Measurement Tool (TEMT), which includes verified emissions factors for numerous modes of transportation, enables organisations to reliably estimate and report emissions, paving the way for effective emission-reduction efforts.

ISO 14083, published by the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO), is a global standard for estimating greenhouse gas emissions from transportation activities. It applies to road, rail, aviation, maritime, and inland waterway transport and includes fuel combustion and power usage. The standard specifies calculation methodologies, data requirements, and reporting rules, providing a consistent framework for tracking emissions and allowing organisations to make educated decisions about emission-reduction measures.

NICDC Logistics Data Services Limited (NLDSL), a subsidiary of the National Industrial Corridor Development Corporation (NICDC) under the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of Commerce and Industry, has incorporated the ISO 14083 emission factors API into its flagship program, the Unified Logistics Interface Platform (ULIP). This connection allows users to easily compute emissions from goods activities, increasing transparency and sustainability in logistics. Shri Girish Kumar Surpur, CEO and Director of NICDC Logistics Data Services Ltd stated that, as NLDSL continues to innovate for a sustainable future, ULIP’s Carbon Emissions API, developed in collaboration with the TCI-IIMB Supply Chain Sustainability Lab at IIM Bangalore, enables trade and logistics players to assess the environmental impact of their transportation activities.

Companies can now construct tools for informed, practical sustainability decisions, including modal shifts, by estimating emissions and using other data sources available through ULIP. Together, we can effect substantial change towards a lower-carbon logistics ecosystem.

The Transportation Emissions Measurement Tool (TEMT) is a comprehensive online platform for measuring emissions from all modes of transportation. It includes India-specific emission factors that have been validated by ISO 14083 certification to ensure data correctness and relevance. The application allows users to compute emissions for both past and future shipments, as well as compare emissions across different modes of transport for a given origin-destination pair. It also allows users to create bespoke transportation chains, with all previous entries securely saved in the cloud for convenient monthly tracking and year-over-year comparison. The platform is commodity-agnostic, which means it works with any sort of shipment, and outputs are provided in PDF and CSV formats for easy reporting and analysis.