Carbon Footprint Assessment in Temperature-Sensitive Transport Operations
Javed, Hina (2026)
2026
All rights reserved. This publication is copyrighted. You may download, display and print it for Your own personal use. Commercial use is prohibited.
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-202604035628
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-202604035628
Tiivistelmä
Temperature-sensitive food transport is essential for product quality and safety, but highly energy-intensive making it an important source of greenhouse gas emissions. It occurs from both in-house and third-party logistics providers. However, reporting practices often emphasize company-owned fleet and underestimate external logistics, creating gaps in the real carbon footprint of cold-chain operations. This research develops a unified Tank-To-Wheel (TTW), fuel-based calculation model that combines emissions from a Finnish food company’s own-refrigerated trucks and outsourced delivery partners.
The research applies mixed-method approach, TTW emissions are calculated from 2025 operational fuel data using a standard diesel emission factor and qualitative insights are obtained through semi-structured interviews with a logistics and sales manager and a university sustainability expert. Total TTW emissions are about 672 tonnes of CO₂, with roughly one-third originating from the company’s own fleet and two-thirds from outsourced transport. The integrating model enables the food company to view in-house and subcontracted operations in a single emission report and supports more instructive decisions on route planning, load utilization, fuel choices and future low-emission investments.
The research applies mixed-method approach, TTW emissions are calculated from 2025 operational fuel data using a standard diesel emission factor and qualitative insights are obtained through semi-structured interviews with a logistics and sales manager and a university sustainability expert. Total TTW emissions are about 672 tonnes of CO₂, with roughly one-third originating from the company’s own fleet and two-thirds from outsourced transport. The integrating model enables the food company to view in-house and subcontracted operations in a single emission report and supports more instructive decisions on route planning, load utilization, fuel choices and future low-emission investments.