How do I calculate the emissions of moving chemicals by road tanker per tonne?
Take the diesel for the whole trip, including the empty return a dedicated tanker makes, and multiply by 2.68 kg CO2 per litre. Divide by tonnes delivered. Owned tankers are Scope 1; hired tankers are Scope 3 transport, backed by the transporter's data.
Empty running
A dedicated chemical tanker may return empty, since cleaning between products limits backloads. Include the return leg; leaving it out understates each tonne.
Data to collect
- Diesel per trip, from fuel slips or the transporter.
- Loaded and empty km.
- Tonnes per load, from weighbridge slips.
- Washing or cleaning between loads, if done by you.
Which scope
Tankers you own or lease and run are Scope 1. Hired tankers sit in Scope 3, category 4 or 9 depending on who pays for the freight.
Worked example: one 600 km delivery (illustrative inputs)
- Round trip: 600 km loaded + 600 km empty = 1,200 km at 3.5 km per litre = 342.9 litres
- Diesel: 342.9 x 2.68 = 918.9 kg CO2
- Per tonne delivered: 918.9 / 25 t = 36.8 kg CO2
- Per tonne-km, loaded distance: 36.8 / 600 = 0.0613 kg CO2
Mileage and load are illustrative; use fuel slips, trip sheets and weighbridge records.
What Senseible does here
Senseible reads fuel invoices and fuel card statements (diesel 2.68 and CNG 2.69 kg CO2, IPCC 2006 defaults) into a fingerprinted Scope 1 record. Hired transport goes to the Scope 3 evidence trail, and distance or tonne-km estimates are labelled as estimates.
Sources: GHG Protocol Corporate Standard, GHG Protocol Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Standard, GLEC Framework for logistics emissions (Smart Freight Centre), IPCC 2006 Guidelines, Volume 2 Energy (fuel defaults)
Last reviewed 2026-10-21.