Jeroen van Heiningen: ‘The world is your playground’
The benefits of carbon insetting for shippers and carriers
Trading emission reductions within the transport of goods is, in essence, what the system of carbon insetting offers. This allows a shipper to legitimately claim that the logistics portion of their transported product has been carried out with zero emissions. At the same time, the carrier—for instance, the owner of a hydrogen-powered ship—can recoup the additional costs of their investment in sustainable transport. Jeroen van Heiningen (123Carbon) and Rik Arends of the Smart Freight Centre discuss all the possibilities carbon insetting offers within the logistics chain.
footprint). Van Heiningen explains: “We say: a ship powered by hydrogen, such as those operated by Future Proof Shipping, achieves specific reductions. We separate these reductions, after which the ship can be offered at the standard market price. A shipper can purchase sustainability for their shipment on that ship, but other parties can also buy that sustainability. This makes it more flexible to allocate the reductions, regardless of whether the physical container is on your ship.”
This is appealing to shippers, as they are not required to commit to a single ship for fifteen years, nor do they need to choose which technology is used. The shipper only evaluates the available offerings, while their operations remain unchanged.
Jeroen van Heiningen, 123Carbon
“Decarbonizing inland shipping is no easy task”, acknowledges Jeroen van Heiningen, founder of 123Carbon: a platform for carbon insetting within transport chains. Large companies are increasingly held accountable for indirect emissions (scope 3). Supply chains must therefore be made more sustainable. Previously, such sustainability was only physically possible; now, it can also be achieved with certificates. “Typically, there is one owner and high investments. Under normal circumstances, a skipper would only purchase or have a hydrogen-powered ship built if they had a customer willing to cover the costs for fifteen years. You must then be certain that this ship can operate on a specific route and that the infrastructure is in place. In short, many conditions must align to make such a deal. It is extremely complex.”
This, according to Van Heiningen, is one of the reasons why the energy transition is progressing slowly. “At 123Carbon, we therefore set out to address the question: how can we ensure that supply and demand find each other more effectively?”
To answer this question, the platform decoupled the physical transport of a product from its emission profile (the carbon
Digital certificates To clarify: the shipper purchases the reduction, while those whose containers are physically on board the ship receive a fossil-based footprint. After all, they did not pay for the reduction. The paying shipper receives a certificate allowing them to legitimately claim the corresponding reduction. 123Carbon is the platform that enables a skipper (or a carrier from another mode of transport) to convert their reductions into digital certificates, which can then be traded. All these certificates are validated by an external, accredited party (Verifavia and Bureau Veritas) to ensure integrity. This process involves various regulations, as questions arise: how should these reductions be measured? How should they be allocated and under what conditions? This is where the Smart Freight Centre comes into play, as it has defined the rules for how carbon insetting should be conducted—essentially, the methodology.
Rik Arends, director of the Sustainable Freight Buyers Alliance, an initiative of the Smart Freight Centre, elaborates: “We are a foundation working globally on the decarbonization of logistics. We collaborate with multinationals, and over 200 international companies are now members of our foundation. Think of DHL, IKEA, Pepsi, Nike, or ASML, as well as logistics providers like Maersk. We support carriers from the entire logistics sector and all modalities, including inland shipping.”
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