Zeus joins forces with Smart Freight Centre to improve the standardised calculation methods for global emissions

Logtech start-up Zeus has become the latest member of the Smart Freight Centre (SFC) community, an international non-profit organisation focused on reducing greenhouse gas emissions from freight transportation. The partnership will see Zeus work with the Global Logistics Emissions Council (GLEC), an SFC-led programme, to submit data, create guidelines and processes and help improve the accounting, reporting, and importantly the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the freight sector.

The two year old start-up, which provides sustainable freight solutions to manufacturers and retailers across the UK and Europe, will be working alongside this leading worldwide body to improve the GLEC Framework and ensure development of even more impactful tools and solutions.

GLEC was established in 2014 by SFC and has since grown into a voluntary partnership of more than 150 companies, industry associations, and experts committed to tracking and reducing GHG emissions in the logistics industry. The GLEC Framework for Logistics Emission Accounting and Reporting carries the ‘Built on GHG Protocol’ mark, supports consistent and transparent calculation and reporting of emissions in the sector and contributes to development of new International Standards. It is the only globally-recognised methodology for harmonised calculation and reporting of the logistics GHG footprint across the multimodal supply chain.

Alan Lewis, Technical Director at Smart Freight Centre and co-author of the GLEC Framework, said: “Supply chain decarbonisation is critical in order to reduce GHG emissions by one billion tonnes by 2030, and to reach zero emissions by 2050. Our Smart Freight Centre community is pleased to welcome Zeus to GLEC. Through collaboration with global partners such Zeus and SFC’s industry-leading network, we’re taking concrete steps towards accelerating our GHG emission reduction goals.”

Jai Kanwar, Zeus Co-Founder, said: “On Zeus’s journey to help develop a new universal standard in sustainable freight, the great work already done by GLEC and the Smart Freight Centre community is important and trailblazing. We’re thrilled to become fully-fledged members of this important global body and help directly improve standards, accounting and ultimately help large manufacturers and retailers have access to the best sustainable transport solutions possible.”

Zeus’s new Head of Sustainability, Dr Christopher de Saxe, who joins on 1 May, will be the company’s representative on the Council. Dr de Saxe comes from the University of Cambridge’s Sustainable Freight Research Centre and will be responsible for implementing commercial pilots of zero emission technology, such as electric HGVs, clean hydrogen, and alternative fuels, with Zeus clients.

This year, Zeus has committed to using only renewable diesel or electric-powered HGVs for new clients, as it doubles down on making sustainable freight more commercially viable. 

Zeus Co-Founder Clemente Theotokis added: “We have a new low-carbon multimodal solution available and new products in development that are all designed to give real, actionable, and importantly significant, reductions in carbon emissions today. We firmly believe that rapidly commercialising sustainability and giving shippers easy to implement solutions is of vital importance. The work that GLEC does is a critical cog in enabling this decarbonisation of freight.”