Transporting goods > Vehicles owned by others > Water

You produce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from this activity if your organization transports goods in ships owned by other businesses. This includes goods you deliver to clients as well as goods that are delivered to you. This is a Scope 3 (indirect) emission.

Enter your shipping data into Climate Smart to calculate the emissions from your inventory period.

On this page:

• Examples of emission sources
• Prepare the data you need
• Find your emissions data
• Enter data into your inventory

Examples of emission sources

Not sure if you should report this emissions source? You should consider tracking this activity in your inventory if:

• Your organization imports or exports goods through ocean freighter or other water vessel

Prepare the data you need

To get your data ready for Climate Smart, you’ll need the following information to estimate the amount of GHGs your organization emitted during the year:  

• Weight of freight or goods (tonnes, short tons, or tonnes CO₂e)
• Distance travelled (kilometres or miles)
• Transportation type (inland or marine shipping)

If this is your first inventory year, some of this information might not be available yet. In that case, you’ll need to estimate the averages of the data you need, based on the data you have. For example, if you only know the origin and destination of a delivery, you’ll need to estimate the shipment weight. If you’re averaging the data you enter into Climate Smart, you’ll also need to know:

• Number of shipments you made

To prepare this data for Climate Smart, learn how to determine how many tonnes of goods per kilometre you shipped.

Find your emissions data

Not sure where to find the data you need? Try the following suggestions:

Ask your accounting department

Your accounting department might already have the information you need! Ask your accounting team about collecting data for your emissions inventory.

Check invoices from your shipping provider

Shipping providers charge for their services based on factors like distance and weight. Check invoices and other records from your shipping provider to find the data you need for your inventory period.

Measure distance travelled with the distance calculator 

Not sure what the distance was between the origin and destination of a shipment? To find out how far a ship travelled, use the distance calculator.

Enter data into your inventory

When you’re ready to track emissions from this activity, you can start entering the data you’ve collected into Climate Smart.

Note: Lots of shipments to enter at once? Try importing your shipping data.

Add this activity to your inventory

Before you can enter information about your emissions, you need to add this activity to your inventory. Learn how to add new activities to your inventory.

Add an entry to your inventory

To enter your data into Climate Smart:

1. Under Estimate by Distance, enter the weight as 1 and the distance travelled as the value you calculated for D.
2. Enter the start and end dates of the activity you’re measuring. These dates usually match your inventory period.
3. Enter the annual cost of shipping (including taxes). If you’re estimating this amount, select the checkbox next to Cost is estimate. Tell us if you paid in Canadian Dollars (CAD) or United States Dollars (USD) from Currency the drop-down list.
4. Under Description, enter information such as:
   • Type of shipment (inbound or outbound)
   • Courier name
   • In the Note box, enter optional information including any details that might be helpful for you (or your Climate Smart Advisor, if applicable) in the future.
5. In the Note box, enter optional information including any details that might be helpful for you (or your Climate Smart Advisor, if applicable) in the future.
6. When you’re done, click ADD ENTRY. Your entry will appear in the table below.