At last, clarity and transparency on transport GHG emissions!
The MTES order of February 26, 2019 sets out the basis for third-party verification of GHG calculations:
- With this new text, the French Ministry of Ecology is setting up a system for the voluntary verification by COFRAC-accredited bodies(or equivalent) of services for calculating information on the quantity of greenhouse gases (GHG) emitted during a transport service.
As a reminder, Articles D. 1431-1 to D. 1431-23 of the French Transport Code set out the calculation principles common to all modes of transport (rail or guided, road, river, sea, air), and the procedures for informing the beneficiary. The calculation methodology is based on the European standard for the calculation and declaration of energy and greenhouse gas emissions from transport services (EN 16258).
These regulatory provisions, combined with the obligation for large companies to stop using default values as of July 2019 , reinforce and bolster the strategy of Agence TK'Blue, whose GHG calculator was, as early as September 2013, verified as compliant with the provisions of the French decree by Bureau Veritas , thus anticipating well in advance the spirit of the provisions of this new decree.
Of course, TK'Blue will apply for renewal of its third-party verification on the basis of these new requirements as soon as COFRAC has established the accreditation reference framework for the organizations in charge of these verifications, and these organizations are known and accredited. This verification should be a simple formality, given that TK'Blue's GHG calculator complies with the original ministerial decree and has been adapted to the various regulatory changes(2017 decree).
At a time when international initiatives and the TK'Blue Agency are campaigning for the adoption of an ISO standard along the lines of the European EN 16 258 standard, to establish transparency betweendifferent methodologies and the calculations performed by different tools, the verification system set up in France, and based on accreditation by a signatory of the EA (European cooperation for accreditation) multilateral agreement, currently constitutes the best possible degree of international recognition of GHG calculations. Indeed, accreditation of the verifier by an EA member (see box*) confirms the international recognition of their certificates.
TK'Blue Agency supports this approach by actively cooperating in international harmonization work(such as that carried out by the GLEC industrialists) and by formalizing its participation in the financing of future ISO standardization work.
*Based on EA's MLA agreement:
The EA Multilateral Agreement (European cooperation for accreditation, https://european-accreditation.org/ea-members/directory-of-ea-members-and-mla-signatories) is an agreement signed between EA members, by which the signatories recognize and accept the equivalence of accreditation systems used by signatory members, and the reliability of conformity assessment results provided by conformity assessment bodies (CABs) accredited by signatory members. It makes effective the objective "Accredited once, accepted everywhere". Market acceptance of conformity assessment results provided by conformity assessment bodies accredited by EA MLA signatories is of major importance for the European internal market, facilitating cross-border trade and demonstrating compliance with European legislation for products and services that help to protect health, safety and the environment.