Frequently Asked Questions

The Sustainability Management Platform (SMP) from WAVES is a tool that supports companies in managing their sustainability. The SMP makes sustainability visible by calculating CO₂ emissions. Effective sustainability measures for companies can be derived from the meaningful analyses, which are mapped on the basis of real data in the SMP dashboard. The tool can also calculate complex carbon footprints of intermodal transport chains (truck, ship, train, plane) as well as emissions from locations. The long-term goal of the platform is to make not only the ecological, but also the economic and social impacts along a supply chain transparent, thus enabling the circular economy.

So far, the platform idea is unique as its calculation covers all areas in which emissions occur in the calculation. It is not limited to a specific area, e.g. the calculation of transports or production sites.

So far, many transport and logistics companies do not record their CO₂ emissions yet or do not record them completely. Data on the CO₂ footprint is particularly interesting for companies and stakeholders. But what is actually behind the CO₂ footprint, especially in the transport sector? The so-called carbon footprint shows the total amount of CO₂ emissions caused by the transport of goods and people. All greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions consisting of defined climate-relevant gases are converted into CO₂ equivalent values. In addition to the direct emissions caused by a transport medium, indirect emissions, e.g. from the fuel supply chain, are also included. As a rule, there is a wide range of potential for reducing the footprint, for example through the choice of vehicles, optimized capacity utilization or more efficient route planning.

The reporting of emissions is already demanded by many participants in the international trade of goods, imposed by the legislator or proactively promoted by own sustainability management and measures for environmental protection in the company. In many countries, companies above a certain size are already obliged to prepare sustainability reports and to publish information on consumption and emissions.

The use of the SMP therefore offers many advantages:

• • Those who use SMP to support a more sustainable business orientation, especially in the transport and logistics sector, can increase their energy efficiency, save fuel, CO₂ and therefore money. Recent research by Solistica (2019) found that sustainability measures can also improve a company’s net income by up to 8%.
  • Prices for energy and CO₂ emissions will continue to rise, EU climate targets were tightened again in 2021, and laws such as the Supply Chain Act in Germany will come into force in January 2023. With SMP, a company is ideally positioned to meet future sustainability challenges.
  • Customers now choose their transport company not only according to the criteria of “price” and “transit time”, but also according to how sustainably the transport and logistics company operates.
  • More and more consumers are attaching importance to sustainability and the careful use of resources and are also demanding this of companies. The SMP serves as pathfinder and enabler for companies to present themselves credibly as a sustainable player in their external image as well.
  • Compliance: The use of the SMP is safe and covers all current standards.

The SMP with the modules “Sustainable Transport” and „Sustainable Tendering“ calculates greenhouse gas emissions for transports based on the internationally recognized industry methodology of the Global Logistics Emission Council (also GLEC Framework), as well as the DIN standard EN 16258 and will also comply with the planned ISO 14083. Depending on data availability, clients will receive an estimate of their emissions based on representative industry averages or a value for the emissions of their specific fleet.
The data import is carried out in a legally secure and GDPR-compliant anonymized manner either automatically via an interface (API) or by manual upload.

As of December 2021, the Sustainable Transports module of the SMP calculates all road transports, while the Sustainable Tendering module can map intermodal transports and also offers the possibility to determine scenario analyses of the transport routes with the lowest CO₂ emission value and present them in easy to understand dashboards.

The calculation on the platform distinguishes between carrier and freight payer. For the carrier sector, the following data is determined for the emission calculation:

• • • Days traveled
    • Vehicles driven
    • Kilometers driven
    • Number of tours
    • Number of legs
    • Percentage of empty trips
    • Empty kilometers driven
    • Emissions in total and by tours, legs and vehicles

The following data are determined in the freight payer area:

• • • Number of shipments
    • Weight
    • Kilometers traveled
    • Emissions by shipments and consignees

Vehicle data

• • • • Vehicle ID
      • Location
      •  Vehicle type
      •  Permissible total weight
      • Fuel type
      •  Year of construction

Trailer data

• • • • Trailer ID
      • Trailer type

Tour data

• • • •  Tour ID
      • Leg ID
      • Shipment ID
      • Shipment weight
      • Postal code and country of the stage location

The more detailed the data, the more accurate emission calculations can be provided.

The data import is either automated via an interface (API), semi-automated via a mapping function or via manual upload of Excel templates.

Data in the SMP is secured in a GDPR-compliant manner. The connections and access to the platform are also SSL-encrypted.

The SMP modules „Sustainable Transport“ and „Sustainable Companies“, which were released in 2021, are suitable for logisticians, transport companies and any company that organizes transports – regardless of its size.
As the SMP is constantly evolving and more modules are being added in 2022, WAVES will offer the calculation of company locations and their supply chains, regardless of their branch.

To use the SMP, companies do not need to hire sustainability experts. WAVES takes over this part! Only the above-mentioned vehicle data should be available because without the data, it is not possible to calculate reliable emission values of the transports.

We will be happy to provide you with a qualified consultant to guide you through the requirements and explain the advantages of the SMP. Please contact us!

In order to guarantee our customers reliable CO₂– data at all times, we had the calculation of emissions in transport and logistics in the SMP modules “Sustainable Tendering” for shippers and “Sustainable Transport” for carriers tested by TÜV Rheinland.
After a thorough testing process, the TÜV experts certifiedat that the methodology developed by WAVES for calculating logistics emissions in the Sustainability Management Platform (SMP) is scientifically sound, reflects the state of the art and complies with the requirements of the GLEC framework and the EN 16258 standard.

The validity can be verified using the certificate ID 0000083615 at www.certipedia.com.

As an innovation company, we are always working towards obtaining additional confirmation of the performance of our platform through quality seals in the areas of sustainability and digitalisation. We have received the following awards so far (as of June 2022):

“Solar Impulse Efficient Solution” label (2021).
“CLOUD TECH INNOVATOR OF THE YEAR 2021” by the Cloud Community Europe-Luxembourg
“World Summit Award” in the category “Environment & Green Energy” (2022)
“Benelux Enterprise Award”, awarded by EU Business News (2022)

At WAVES, we can calculate emissions down to the shipment level. We define a shipment as a single transport good that has been transported from an agreed starting point to the planned destination, regardless of the number of legs or transport modes.