<aside> 💡 Estimating the carbon emissions of a shipment based on distance, cargo weight and mode of transport. Our calculations are based on the leading international standard for logistics emissions calculations, the GLEC Framework, and are audited and accredited by Smart Freight Centre.

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Accreditation

Lune’s Smart Freight Centre audited & accredited calculations follow the GLEC Framework.

2022 SFC Accreditation Statement_Lune.pdf

Methodology

Also see our API documentation.

Our shipping emissions calculations follow both the GHG Protocol and the GLEC Framework. The calculations are done in a few steps. Let us first go through the request possibilities then define the steps we take to provide a calculation. Do take a look at our public API since it's a great way to check for the request possibilities.

Lune calculates carbon emissions based on 3 inputs:

1. **Route** — distance in km/miles/nm OR point A-B, in which case we calculate distance
2. **Shipment** — cargo weight in kg, metric tonnes, or number of TEUs (with an optional cargo type specified)
3. **Method** — the transport method (see full list at bottom of this page)

The steps we take to calculate the full Well-to-Wheel CO2e emissions are:

1. Calculate the Route
   • If we're given the distance directly we use it (converting miles or nautical miles to kilometers, if necessary)
   • If we're given a route between two places, for each place:
     • We determine two sets of geographic coordinates:
       • If the place is a sea port, an airport or a railway station we determine its geographic coordinates
       • If the place is given as an address we determine the address' coordinates via Mapbox
       • If the place is given as geographic coordinates we don't need to convert
     • Land: we determine the distance between the two sets of coordinates via Mapbox.
     • Air: we estimate the distance between the points using Great Circle Distance.
     • Sea: we use a custom algorithm using data from the Distances Between Ports publication produced by the US government (AKA Pub. 151) and add 15% to the value returned by the algorithm (therefore transforming Shortest Feasible Distance to an actual distance). Adding 15% is aligned with the GLEC Framework.
       • The algorithm can theoretically fail, although it’s exceedingly unlikely. If it fails we fall back to Great Circle Distance multiplied by 2.0.