Freight decarbonization needs demand, not just molecules
Date of publication: April, 2026 (Produced by Bloomberg Media Studios for Shell)
Freight transport underpins global trade and economic growth. But whether goods move by road, sea or air, these sectors face some of the hardest decarbonization challenges.
Global transport faces two critical imperatives at once, keep trade moving efficiently, while cutting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions at pace. Freight emissions are projected to rise sharply1, and lower-carbon fuel supplies are not scaling or distributing fast enough to meet demand where and when it is needed. Even during periods of disruption, mechanisms that can flexibly connect demand with available lower-carbon solutions remain critical.
Many shippers2, logistics service providers3 and cargo owners4 want to act on their decarbonization ambitions, but cannot reliably access lower-carbon fuels on the routes they use, and need confidence that any emissions claim is credible, auditable and recognized. This is the challenge book and claim seeks to address. It allows lower-carbon fuels to be used by those who have access, while verified environmental attributes are transparently allocated to customers elsewhere in the value chain.
Freight emissions are expected to almost double by 2050, without stronger action on decarbonization⁵
Progress depends on ensuring that, ultimately, use of lower-carbon fuels leads to real displacement of higher-carbon alternatives somewhere in the system.
As pressure mounts on global supply chains to cut GHG emissions, the transport sector needs lower-carbon solutions that offer a way forward for operators of all sizes.
Against this backdrop, a mechanism known as book and claim is gaining traction. It offers a way to accelerate the use of lower-carbon fuels in all transport modes across complex, multi-modal logistics, without waiting for physical infrastructure to catch up.
Book and claim is now being applied in real-world freight and logistics operations, supported by fuel suppliers, carriers, cargo owners, logistics providers and independent standards bodies. Proponents argue that it offers a credible, scalable way to connect demand for lower-carbon transport with supply, at a time when progress on reducing carbon emissions is lagging6.
“If investments in lower-carbon fuels are tied only to a specific trip where emissions occur, the system becomes fragmented and inefficient,” says Christoph Wolff, CEO of Smart Freight Centre, a non-profit organization dedicated to decarbonizing the freight sector. “Book and claim can support the low-carbon market through bankable long-term offtake agreements for new supply.”
Increasing the reach of lower-carbon fuels
The ISO describes book and claim as a chain-of-custody model in which the administrative record flow is not necessarily connected to the flow of physical material or product through the supply chain. In terms of lower-carbon fuels, book and claim allows the environmental attributes of these fuels to be allocated across a value chain, even when the fuel itself is used elsewhere in the system.
Additionally, book and claim registries enable greater transparency by creating a traceable record of how GHG emissions data is allocated.
“Book and claim is an important mechanism to reduce emissions across the supply chain,” says Bettina Paschke, Vice President of ESG Accounting, Reporting and Controlling at DHL Express. “It’s a mechanism that allows companies to access the emission-reduction benefits of lower-carbon fuels, even if they don’t have a direct physical connection to where that fuel is used.”
Read the transcript
Read the transcript
Book and claim is a great solution for many actors in the supply chain because it is easy and accessible for everyone. Scope 1 users in the supply chain can purchase fuel where it's closest to the production, does not need to be shipped across many geographics or countries, and for Scope 3 users as well, because they would not need necessarily a physical connection to a solution.
We see this as a huge lever to reduce emissions for all modes in aviation, marine, also in road transport. This makes it inclusive as a solution for everyone. Of course it needs to be more mature. More companies need to offer that service, but I would say big momentum, demand is there. Companies have science-based targets they want to reach, and Book and Claim is a great opportunity. It's super easy, practical, fast to implement. That's why they don't need to wait. It's available.
That distinction is especially important in logistics, where cargo owners, freight forwarders and carriers are often far removed from where fuel is produced or used.
Transparency is critical to enable companies to identify and mitigate the full environmental impact of their activities, including Scope 3 emissions arising from services performed on their behalf.
“Since many companies subcontract, especially in logistics services, Scope 3 emissions are a large and difficult part of the footprint for many companies to reduce,” says Paschke.
By mid-2025, around half a million customers were using DHL’s GoGreen Plus book and claim service, according to Paschke. Launched in 2023, the solution now applies emission reductions to a “double-digit” percentage of shipments moving through the network. “That has grown significantly over the last three years,” says Paschke.
Explained: how emissions are classified
The Greenhouse Gas Protocol is the most widely used standard for measuring and managing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. It divides GHG emissions into three categories.
Scope 3 emissions constitute the majority of total corporate emissions, but are generally the hardest to measure and manage.
Scope 1
Direct GHG emissions from sources that an organization directly owns or controls, such as fuel burned by its vehicles.
Scope 2
Indirect GHG emissions associated with electricity, steam, heating or cooling that are purchased from a third party.
Scope 3
Beyond Scope 2, all the indirect GHG emissions that occur across an organization’s entire value chain, including those embedded in goods and services it purchases and those generated in the use and disposal of what it produces.
Book and claim: a multimodal tool
While book and claim has attracted the most attention in aviation, its advocates stress that the approach is inherently multimodal.
“The principles of book and claim are common across aviation, marine and road freight, even if the implementation looks different in each sector,” says Simon Denn, Vice President of Carbon Strategy at Shell.
Maritime container transport is a concentrated sector with relatively few major carriers. Even so, adoption of book and claim has been slow, as its effective implementation depends on collaboration across the entire freight transport system.
“Including book and claim within the greenhouse gas accounting standards, and clarity in guidance from target-setting organizations, can help unlock a lot of the demand for lower-carbon fuels that’s currently sitting on the sidelines.”
Simon Denn, Vice President of Carbon Strategy, Shell
Road transport presents a different challenge: The sector is fragmented, with millions of small operators and limited standardization. Organizations7 that support book and claim are bringing together the transport sector to structure effective decarbonization solutions. Alongside this is the testing of digital registries and accounting frameworks8 that can work in practice and at scale.
For DHL, the attraction lies in being able to offer lower-emission transport services across all major modes of transport, rather than only on selected routes where fuel happens to be available.
“Without book and claim, we could only offer lower-emission services selectively,” Paschke says. “This allows us to scale globally, across aviation, marine and road, and make it accessible to a much broader customer base.”
A demand signal to scale supply
A central argument for book and claim is that it helps unlock investment by aggregating demand for lower-carbon fuels, rather than assessing individual customers’ willingness to pay on a case-by-case basis.
“What matters is growing demand and linking it credibly to supply,” says Denn. “If producers see reliable, aggregated demand coming through, it helps inform investment decisions, enabling capital to flow and production to scale.”
Read the transcript
Read the transcript
Book and claim very clearly needs to be included within the greenhouse gas accounting standards. The Greenhouse Gas Protocol is currently going through what I'd describe as a generational update of its reporting standards. They are looking at market-based mechanisms as part of that overall update and to really get traction and move this beyond early adopters into more mainstream acceptance, the types of market-based mechanisms, chain-of-custody models, of which book and claim is one, need to be accepted in the corporate accounting mechanisms.
A number of companies said they're very interested in purchasing lower carbon fuels and using methodologies like book and claim, but they're really waiting for the signal and signpost from the standard setters, the target setting guidance bodies, that book and claim will be recognized.
There's a lot of positive noises coming out of both Greenhouse Gas Protocol and the Science-Based Targets Initiative that this will be included, and I think that will help unlock a lot of the demand that's currently sitting on the sidelines.
Policy signals are often insufficient to stimulate investment in lower-carbon fuels. Within book and claim, sufficient customer demand is also crucial – there is just more flexibility as to which customers and where they are located.
Investment in lower-carbon fuels is strongest when clear policy support is matched by demonstrable customer demand. Book and claim converts voluntary participation into a credible, sustained demand signal – giving producers the confidence that policy alone cannot provide.
According to the International Energy Agency9, biofuel and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) supplies remain far below what would be required for net-zero pathways by 2050 in transport, particularly in aviation and shipping.
Credibility, traceability and trust
Supporters are clear that book and claim must be underpinned by robust, auditable systems. Concerns about erroneous double counting and greenwashing make integrity a central focus of current efforts.
To address those risks, companies are increasingly relying on digital registries, some built on blockchain technology, to record the lifecycle attributes of lower-carbon fuels and ensure that they are only claimed once.
“Trust is everything, every claim must be tracked, certified and externally verified. Otherwise, this won’t scale.”
Bettina Paschke, Vice President of ESG Accounting, Reporting and Controlling, DHL Express
A broader challenge is to ensure that the book and claim systems have well-functioning certification of environmental attributes, data accuracy and governance. The voluntary nature of book and claim means that much of this is driven by initiatives such as the Book and Claim Community10 to develop principles and best practices.
Industry efforts are being made to harmonize terminology and accounting rules to prevent fragmentation that could undermine confidence. “Harmonization is critical,” says Wolff. “If every mode, region or registry uses different rules, credibility suffers.”
“The Greenhouse Gas Protocol or the Science-Based Targets Initiative had concerns about greenwashing, and these systems are getting a lot more mature,” adds Wolff. “So there are now very concrete steps being taken for book and claim systems to become officially recognized.”
A voluntary approach focused on acceleration
Importantly, book and claim is currently used within voluntary frameworks, rather than as a regulatory compliance tool.
“This is about accelerating uptake now,” says Denn. “Transport is a slow-to-decarbonize sector. Book and claim is a flexible bridge that can operate while physical supply chains catch up.”
Book and claim does not eliminate the complexity of transport decarbonization, but its advocates argue that it serves as a practical market mechanism, one that enables better alignment between fuel production and actual demand, ensuring progress even as physical infrastructure development struggles to keep pace.
Market-Based Mechanisms - Book and Claim
In-value chain solutions enabling your supply chain decarbonization.
Sources
1 International Transport Forum. “ITF transport outlook 2023 summary (PDF)”. 2023
2 World Shipping Council. “Dual-fuel container ship and vehicle carrier fleet reaches 400 ships on the water”. February 2, 2026
3 Sustainability Magazine. “Top 10 sustainable transport and logistics companies”. January 10, 2024
4 World Ports Org. “Leading cargo owners commit to zero by 2040 target”. May 3, 2025
5 Smart Freight Centre. “New White Paper Published "Empowering Shippers: How Book and Claim Plus a Clear Action Plan Can Unlock Heavy Road Freight Decarbonization”. December 10 2025
6 Bloomberg. “Global carbon dioxide emissions set to hit a new high this year”. November 13, 2025
7 Smart Freight Centre. “Book and claim community launches to accelerate climate solutions for heavy transport decarbonization”. June 2, 2023
8 Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials. “RSB and Chooose announce collaboration to advance digital book and claim solutions for SAF”. December 10, 2025
9 International Energy Agency. “Net zero by 2050”. May 18, 2021
10 Book and Claim Community. “Principles and best practices”. n.d.
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