News / DP World's UK carbon inset programme will help shippers deal with Scope 3

DP World has introduced a new carbon “insetting” programme to help UK shippers tackle their Scope 3 emissions.

While ESG programmes at large-scale shippers and 3PLs have seen progress in cutting back on Scope 1 and 2 emissions, which are more directly under their control, Scope 3 emissions cover a company’s external “value chain”, and include activities such as emissions generated by third-party transport providers, and have proved stubbornly hard to calculate, let alone reduce.

However, DP World’s new Port Carbon Inset Programme, set to be offered to UK importers from 1 January, seeks to address this through offering 50kg CO₂e of carbon credits for every loaded import container they move through DP World’s UK terminals at Southampton and London Gateway.

“DP World’s inset credits are generated through its subsidiary, Unifeeder, which deploys incrementally lower-carbon fuels across its North Europe shipping network.

“These credits are verified and pooled, allowing registered importers to access independently certified carbon credits,” the company said.

“We are supporting DP World in the UK in its innovative Carbon Inset Programme by contributing verified GHG reductions generated on our vessels operating in Europe,” said Christian Hoepfner, director of group decarbonisation at Unifeeder.

The programme is set to run for six months, with the independently certified credits issued quarterly, which would “showcase participating companies’ efforts to reduce the Scope 3 emissions in their supply chains”, the company added.

A DP World spokesman confirmed to The Loadstar that qualifying containers do not have to unloaded from a Unifeeder vessel, with the “CO2e credit is generated by Unifeeder ships running on additional lower carbon fuel”.

John Trenchard, VP commercial & supply chain at DP World in the UK, explained: “Insetting carbon emissions is a transparent, direct and pragmatic approach, with immediate measurable impact for our customers. By providing easy access to an independently certified inset programme, we aim to create better awareness and encourage the adoption of more sustainable practices.

“By participating in the trial, a world first, import cargo owners can actively contribute to global decarbonisation efforts while aligning with their own sustainability goals,” he added.

A recent analysis by Loadstar Premium on the difficulties faced by German logistics giant DHL in reducing its carbon emissions underlined how crucial tackling Scope 3 emissions are to these overall aims.

DHL has committed to reducing its group-wide CO2 emissions from 2021’s 40m tonnes to 29m tonnes by 2030. By 2023, it claimed to have reached 34.17m tonnes, but the vast majority of this had taken place in Scope 1 and 2. The chart below shows just much remained to be done in Scope 3 – particularly in its freight forwarding operations.

Source: DHL Group

The report said: “It’s clear that, not very encouragingly, hard-nut-to-crack so-called Scope 3 emissions still represent 75% (aggregate by DHL unit) of the 34.17 million tonnes of CO₂e against the comparable 40 million in 2021.”

DP World today claimed that if 50% of its London Gateway and Southampton import volumes participated in its trial, “this could replace over 11,000 tonnes of traditional fossil fuel with lower-carbon marine fuels, equivalent to the reduction of 10,000 tonnes of CO₂”.