Carbon Emissions in Freight: What Canadian Shippers Need to Know

What It Means

Carbon emissions from freight are the greenhouse gases produced by burning diesel fuel to move goods. In trucking, CO2 is the dominant emission. The standard measurement unit is kilograms of CO2-equivalent (CO2e), which accounts for CO2 along with methane and nitrous oxide weighted by their global warming potential. For most trucking calculations, CO2e and CO2 are treated as essentially equivalent.

Freight emissions calculations have become relevant to Canadian shippers for several reasons: corporate sustainability reporting requirements (particularly for publicly traded companies and their supply chains), customer and procurement requirements that include carbon footprint in vendor scoring, and Canada's carbon pricing policy which affects diesel costs directly. Understanding the numbers is increasingly a business requirement, not just an environmental exercise.

Why It Matters

• Canadian federal carbon pricing applies to the fuel used in commercial trucking, making emissions intensity a direct cost driver - more efficient carriers cost less to operate and can price competitively
• Scope 3 emissions reporting frameworks (GHG Protocol) require companies to account for transportation of purchased goods and outbound freight - your freight provider's emissions become your reported number
• Major retailers, manufacturers, and government procurement increasingly request or require emissions data from supply chain partners
• Mode selection affects emissions significantly: a full FTL shipment is substantially lower-emission per unit than an equivalent LTL shipment with multiple terminal touches
• Route optimization and load consolidation are the most immediately actionable levers shippers have to reduce freight-related emissions

How It Works

The Basic Calculation

Freight carbon emissions are calculated using an emission factor applied to distance and weight. The standard formula for trucking is: CO2e (kg) = Distance (km) x Weight (tonnes) x Emission Factor (kg CO2e per tonne-km). The emission factor varies by truck type, load factor, and fuel type. For a standard diesel Class 8 truck at typical Canadian highway loads, the factor is approximately 0.085 to 0.11 kg CO2e per tonne-km, depending on load factor.

Load Factor

Load factor is the percentage of a truck's capacity that is actually used by your freight. A full truckload at 100% capacity produces lower emissions per tonne-km than a partially loaded truck - the emissions are the same, but more freight is carried per km. LTL carriers consolidate freight to improve average load factors across their network, which is why well-run LTL operations can be competitive with FTL on a per-unit emissions basis despite the additional terminal handling.

Using the OTR Logistics Solutions Carbon Footprint Calculator

The OTR Hub Carbon Footprint Calculator computes estimated CO2e for a freight movement based on distance, weight, and mode. Enter your shipment parameters and the tool returns a CO2e estimate you can use for reporting, carrier comparison, or route evaluation.

Common Challenges

• Using inconsistent emission factors across different reporting periods, making year-over-year comparisons unreliable
• Reporting only on inbound or outbound freight and missing the other half of Scope 3 transport emissions
• Treating all LTL movements as higher-emission than FTL without accounting for load factor and consolidation efficiency
• Not capturing return or repositioning moves that contribute to the total emissions of a freight program

Best Practices

• Establish a consistent emission factor methodology and document it - year-over-year comparisons require like-for-like inputs
• Ask carriers for their actual fuel consumption data where available, which produces more accurate calculations than industry-average emission factors
• Evaluate mode and route options on a total emissions basis, not just a cost basis, when developing the business case for shipping network changes
• Consider load consolidation as the simplest emissions reduction lever available without changing carriers
• Archive emissions data by lane and carrier to support annual sustainability reporting

When to Use This Service

• When preparing sustainability reports that include Scope 3 supply chain emissions
• When responding to customer or procurement requests for freight carbon data
• When evaluating shipping routes or mode options where emissions are a factor in the decision
• When benchmarking your freight program's carbon intensity against a prior period or industry standard