GLEC Addresses Structural Overreporting of Road Freight Emissions with DTG-Based Measurement at CES

Korean logistics technology company GLEC participated in CES to present a solution to a long-standing structural issue in global carbon reporting: the systematic overreporting of road freight emissions caused by the absence of country-specific emission factors.
 

[Image by GLEC]

As Scope 3 emissions disclosure becomes mandatory across major markets—including the European Union, Japan, and Hong Kong—companies operating within global supply chains are required to report logistics-related emissions under international standards. For road freight, however, many companies face a fundamental limitation when locally representative emission factors are not officially recognized.
 
In the case of Korea, the lack of internationally approved Korea-specific emission factors and emission intensity values has forced companies to apply European or Latin American average benchmarks under global standards. This has resulted in reported emissions being inflated by approximately 12 to 21 percent, regardless of actual driving conditions, vehicle characteristics, or fuel efficiency.
 
GLEC highlighted this issue at CES as a structural flaw rather than a data quality problem. “Even if companies operate efficiently, they can be penalized simply because appropriate national emission factors are unavailable,” the company explained. Such overreporting can directly impact ESG evaluations, supplier assessments, and long-term regulatory costs.
 

To address this challenge, GLEC presented a dual-track approach combining real-time measurement technology with internationally approved Korea-specific emission factors.
 
At the vehicle level, GLEC showcased its GLEC Carbon DTG and GLEC AI DTG Series 5, digital tachograph solutions that measure road freight emissions in real time based on actual driving data. These devices collect information on vehicle operation, fuel use, and driving patterns directly from commercial trucks, replacing estimate-based calculations with measurement-driven data.
 
The GLEC AI DTG Series 5 further integrates artificial intelligence to analyze driving behavior, optimize fleet operations, and support driver safety management—expanding the role of DTG devices beyond compliance to operational intelligence.
 
At the methodology level, GLEC independently developed Korea-specific diesel and gasoline emission factors, as well as road freight and logistics facility emission intensity values that reflect Korea’s real-world transport environment. These methodologies have received official approval from Smart Freight Centre, enabling their application under internationally accepted carbon accounting frameworks.
 
With this approval, Korean companies can now apply nationally representative values rather than foreign averages, effectively eliminating the structural overreporting that previously distorted emissions disclosures.
 
Data collected through GLEC’s DTG devices is processed and reported through GLEC LCS, the company’s API-based Logistics Carbon Standard platform. GLEC LCS supports standardized carbon accounting across all transport modes—including road, sea, rail, air, and logistics facilities—and across global regions, in compliance with ISO 14083.
 
By presenting an integrated system that links on-road measurement, nationally representative emission factors, and internationally compliant reporting, GLEC positioned its CES showcase as a practical response to tightening global carbon regulations.
 
“Overreporting emissions due to inappropriate benchmarks is not just a technical issue—it is a competitiveness issue,” a GLEC representative said. “Our goal is to ensure that companies are assessed based on how they actually operate, using real measurements and approved national methodologies, rather than assumptions.”
  

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