The GLEC Framework Explained: Freight Emissions Without the Jargon
Published 2026-05-06.
The Global Logistics Emissions Council (GLEC) Framework v3.0 is the de-facto standard for logistics carbon accounting. It is also the basis of ISO 14083:2023.
The core equation
Emissions per shipment = activity × emission factor
Where activity = tonne-kilometres (tkm), and emission factor depends on mode, vehicle, load factor and empty-return.
Default factors GLEC publishes
GLEC publishes default intensity factors (per tonne-km) by mode and vehicle or vessel type. Take the values from the current GLEC Framework rather than from secondary sources. As a rough ranking:
| Mode | Vehicle / vessel | Relative intensity per tkm |
|---|
| Road | Large articulated truck | Medium |
| Road | Small rigid truck | Higher |
| Rail | Diesel or electric | Low |
| Sea | Large container ship or bulk carrier | Very low |
| Air | Long haul belly-hold | Very high |
| Inland waterway | Barge | Low |
Air freight is far more carbon-intensive than sea freight per tonne-km. The biggest decarbonisation lever for MSMEs is often mode shift, not vehicle efficiency.
What MSMEs typically miss
Empty return legs
A truck that delivers full and returns empty should have the empty return trip's emissions allocated to the loaded tonne-km. GLEC defaults include an allowance for empty running; use the carrier's actual figure where available.
Load factor
For example, if fuel use stayed the same, a truck running at 60% capacity would have emissions per tkm about 1.67 times those at 100%. Always ask the carrier for load factor.
Hub transhipment
Air freight headline numbers exclude the road leg from factory to airport. Your real Scope 3 must include both.
Practical workflow
- Pull last 12 months of dispatch data
- Bucket by mode and vehicle class
- Apply GLEC defaults, switching to primary data where available
- Run the Logistics & Freight Emissions calculator to get ISO 14083-aligned outputs
- Share with your top 3 buyers on next quarterly review
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