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Drivers for Reducing GHG Emissions from Purchased Freight Transports - Exploring if and how Science-Based Targets influence companies to manage Scope 3 emissions from freight transports

Gustavsson, Tobias LU (2021) In IIIEE Master Thesis IMEM01 20211
The International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics
Abstract
Despite that freight transports account for a notable and increasing share of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, previous studies have identified that buyers of freight transport services often do not engage sufficiently to reduce emissions from the freight transports they purchase. An aspect that has not been adequately investigated, however, is how transport purchasers are influenced by new potential drivers or facilitators, such as by adopting voluntary environmental agreements (VEA). In line with this are the overarching aims of the thesis to contribute to the understanding of how adopting such agreements can influence companies to manage emissions from purchased freight transports as well as how this is done. For this purpose, the... (More)
Despite that freight transports account for a notable and increasing share of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, previous studies have identified that buyers of freight transport services often do not engage sufficiently to reduce emissions from the freight transports they purchase. An aspect that has not been adequately investigated, however, is how transport purchasers are influenced by new potential drivers or facilitators, such as by adopting voluntary environmental agreements (VEA). In line with this are the overarching aims of the thesis to contribute to the understanding of how adopting such agreements can influence companies to manage emissions from purchased freight transports as well as how this is done. For this purpose, the thesis focuses specifically on Science-Based Targets, (SBT) which is an increasingly popular VEA for carbon reduction. Qualitative data collected through interviews with eight Swedish companies with SBTs are analyzed according to four research objectives, background and intention to adopt SBTs, selection of Scope 3 categories, management of freight transports, and impact from SBTs. The findings indicate that adopting SBTs can constitute a facilitator for stakeholder pressure to manage freight transport emissions, as companies often adopt SBTs as a tool for stakeholder management without facing explicit pressure to include specific Scope 3 categories. It further reveals that the impact from SBTs mainly concern overall governance, mainly driven by that target achievement seems often to be of high priority by top management. In general, the findings indicate that SBTs have a high potential to result in increased internal engagement for the commitment to reduce GHG emissions, but as the requirements for Scope 3, in difference to Scope 1 and 2, are not science-based, it is concluded that the full potential is not utilized. (Less)
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author
Gustavsson, Tobias LU
supervisor
organization
course
IMEM01 20211
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
freight transports, green logistics, science-based targets, voluntary environmental agreements, corporate carbon strategies, carbon governance, scope 3 emissions
publication/series
IIIEE Master Thesis
report number
2021.20
ISSN
1401-9191
language
English
id
9052679
date added to LUP
2021-06-21 09:24:23
date last changed
2021-06-21 09:24:23
@misc{9052679,
  abstract     = {{Despite that freight transports account for a notable and increasing share of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, previous studies have identified that buyers of freight transport services often do not engage sufficiently to reduce emissions from the freight transports they purchase. An aspect that has not been adequately investigated, however, is how transport purchasers are influenced by new potential drivers or facilitators, such as by adopting voluntary environmental agreements (VEA). In line with this are the overarching aims of the thesis to contribute to the understanding of how adopting such agreements can influence companies to manage emissions from purchased freight transports as well as how this is done. For this purpose, the thesis focuses specifically on Science-Based Targets, (SBT) which is an increasingly popular VEA for carbon reduction. Qualitative data collected through interviews with eight Swedish companies with SBTs are analyzed according to four research objectives, background and intention to adopt SBTs, selection of Scope 3 categories, management of freight transports, and impact from SBTs. The findings indicate that adopting SBTs can constitute a facilitator for stakeholder pressure to manage freight transport emissions, as companies often adopt SBTs as a tool for stakeholder management without facing explicit pressure to include specific Scope 3 categories. It further reveals that the impact from SBTs mainly concern overall governance, mainly driven by that target achievement seems often to be of high priority by top management. In general, the findings indicate that SBTs have a high potential to result in increased internal engagement for the commitment to reduce GHG emissions, but as the requirements for Scope 3, in difference to Scope 1 and 2, are not science-based, it is concluded that the full potential is not utilized.}},
  author       = {{Gustavsson, Tobias}},
  issn         = {{1401-9191}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  series       = {{IIIEE Master Thesis}},
  title        = {{Drivers for Reducing GHG Emissions from Purchased Freight Transports - Exploring if and how Science-Based Targets influence companies to manage Scope 3 emissions from freight transports}},
  year         = {{2021}},
}