Bechtel’s Stephen Spoljaric on Standardizing Reporting Parameters
In the following article from Issue 2, 2023 of Breakbulk Magazine, Stephen “Spo” Spoljaric, corporate manager of global logistics at Bechtel, provides an update on a sector-wide initiative to develop a standard, industry-recognized guideline for measuring and reporting Scope 3 emissions in the breakbulk sector. Bechtel is a member of the Breakbulk Global Shipper Network.
In Rotterdam on May 17, 2022, various industry leaders kicked off an effort to develop a standard, industry-recognized guideline for measuring and reporting Scope 3 emissions in the breakbulk sector. Attendees included a range of ocean carriers, project freight forwarders and shippers.
During this initial meeting, that took place during Breakbulk Europe, there was recognition that having a neutral third party to assist with leading, moderating and eventually drafting the guideline would be important for its adoption and use in the future. Getting engagement from the industry is paramount to ensure different perspectives are considered.
At Breakbulk Americas in Houston in September, the number of participants expanded to include ports and a wider sampling of carriers and shippers. This session included a thought-provoking session led by Smart Freight Centre, or SFC, from the Netherlands. SFC is an international non-profit organization focused on reducing greenhouse gas emissions from freight transportation.
One of the key areas of concern was to ensure that, as the industry enters this venture, we recognize the differences in types of vessels and how they trade, as opposed to some of the established standards used for measuring emissions in the unitized container liner service sector.
There are now over fifty companies committed to providing financial resources and their time to feedback sessions and collaborating with SFC to initiate the framework for what will eventually be produced. There is a scheduled virtual session for the middle of March with a target to have a full workshop in at Breakbulk Europe in June.
Planned as part of the Breakbulk Europe Executive Summit, the workshop will be an invite-only session to capture and report on the progress and to identify the key steps to progress the effort. Collectively, there will be targets established to have an initial guideline draft for review by the end of 2023.
This is an important subject for many in the industry and having a standard guideline to reference for reporting will achieve alignment between shippers, carriers and freight forwarders, facilitating the movement of goods, establishing a baseline for measuring, and ultimately focusing more on reducing our global carbon footprint.
If your company is interested in participating, please reach out to Elizabeth Rankin, head of content, Breakbulk & CWIEME, at Hyve Group, on [email protected]. For more information on SFC visit www.smartfreightcentre.org/en/what-is-sfc/.
