Sustainability at Dispatchly
Dispatchly turns the weight and route of every shipment into a modelled CO₂e figure for your sustainability reporting. This page shows the whole calculation: every factor, every parameter, every source, and what the figure is not.
What you get
A footprint for every parcel you ship
Calculated per shipment
Weight times road distance for the linehaul, plus a share of a van round for the last mile. Destinations outside Europe are modelled as air freight.
Well-to-wheel, split out
Vehicle emissions and fuel production are reported separately, so you can see what each one contributes to the total.
Coverage you can see
A shipment with no weight or destination is left out and counted, never quietly estimated. You always know what share of your volume the figure covers.
In your dashboard and monthly report
The Analytics page shows the figure with its method beside it, and the monthly PDF report emailed to your team carries the total, per-shipment and coverage figures.
The method
How the figure is calculated
The tonne-kilometre method of ISO 14083:2023, reported well-to-wheel. Tank-to-wheel (burning fuel in the vehicle) and well-to-tank (producing and delivering that fuel) are shown separately.
- 1
Linehaul by road
Shipment weight times road distance times an articulated-truck factor, per tonne-kilometre. Road distance is the great-circle distance from your shipping origin to the destination postcode area, times a road circuity factor of 1.25.
- 2
Last mile by van
Each parcel carries a fixed share of a diesel van's delivery round: 0.6 vehicle-kilometres, independent of weight.
- 3
Air freight outside Europe
For destinations outside Europe, air freight over the great-circle distance replaces the truck leg, short- or long-haul by region as DESNZ defines it. No distance uplift is added, because DESNZ already applies its 8% to the factors.
- 4
Left out, and counted
A shipment without a weight, a destination or a known origin is excluded from the total and reported as not covered, so the figure never includes a guess.
Worked example
One 2 kg parcel, 150 km away
A domestic parcel whose destination lies 150 km from your warehouse as the crow flies. These are the same factors your dashboard uses.
| Leg | Working | CO₂e |
|---|---|---|
| Road distance | 150 km × 1.25 circuity = 187.5 km | |
| Linehaul, truck | 0.002 t × 187.5 km = 0.375 tonne-km × 0.09634 | 36.1 g |
| Last mile, van | 0.6 vehicle-km × 0.31844 | 191.1 g |
| Total, well-to-wheel | Vehicle 183.7 g (81%), fuel production 43.5 g (19%) | 227.2 g |
The last mile is 84% of this parcel's footprint. A van round is shared per parcel regardless of weight, so for short domestic routes the delivery van, not the truck, is what the figure mostly measures.
Sources
Every factor, with the row it came from
Emission factors are transcribed from the UK Government GHG Conversion Factors for Company Reporting 2026 (DESNZ), each cited by its row ID so it can be found again. Checked 21 September 2026.
| Mode | Unit | Tank-to-wheel | Well-to-tank | Well-to-wheel | DESNZ rows |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delivery van, up to 3.5 t, diesel | kg CO₂e per vehicle-km | 0.25716 | 0.06128 | 0.31844 | 27_303_3102_4_1, 28_906_3102_4_1 |
| Articulated truck over 33 t, average laden, diesel | kg CO₂e per tonne-km | 0.07835 | 0.01799 | 0.09634 | 27_304_3132_14_1, 28_907_3132_14_1 |
| Air freight, short-haul | kg CO₂e per tonne-km | 0.75539 | 0.20515 | 0.96054 | 27_317_3155_14_1, 28_913_3155_14_1 |
| Air freight, long-haul | kg CO₂e per tonne-km | 0.53130 | 0.13516 | 0.66646 | 27_317_3157_14_1, 28_913_3157_14_1 |
Source: UK Government GHG Conversion Factors for Company Reporting 2026, flat file. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Air freight uses the rows without radiative forcing, as ISO 14083 reporting does.
Road circuity
1.25
road km per great-circle km
Last-mile distance
0.6
vehicle-km per parcel
Topsector Logistiek, Outlook Pakketmarkt en Thuisleveringen (2020), Tabel 2, B2C
Assumptions
- All European destinations, including the UK and island states, are modelled by road; sea crossings are approximated as road.
- Vans and trucks are assumed diesel. Electric last-mile fleets are not reflected, so the figure leans high where carriers deliver electrically.
- Air shipments do not include the drive to the departure airport.
- Distances run between postcode-area centroids, not exact addresses.
What this figure is not
- It is not a certified or verified ISO 14083 calculation. The method follows the standard's tonne-kilometre approach; nobody has audited it against the standard.
- It uses no carrier-reported (primary) data. Every figure is modelled from default emission factors.
- It is an estimate for reporting and comparison over time, not a measurement of what a particular van burned on a particular day.
Questions
Parcel footprint FAQ
Is Dispatchly's CO₂e figure ISO 14083 certified?
No. It is modelled with the tonne-kilometre method of ISO 14083:2023 using default emission factors, and it is not a certified or verified ISO 14083 calculation. Every factor and parameter is published on this page and next to the figure in your dashboard, so you or your auditor can retrace it.
Why UK Government factors for European parcels?
The DESNZ conversion factors are published under the Open Government Licence, which allows commercial use, and every value can be traced to a single row of the source file. The best-known industry default set cannot be used in a commercial product without its publisher's written permission.
Does it use my carriers' own emissions data?
No. Few carriers publish a usable per-parcel figure, and those that do use different scopes and years, so they cannot be added together into one consistent total. The model applies the same factors to every carrier instead.
Why does the last mile weigh so much?
Because a van round is shared per parcel regardless of weight. For a 2 kg parcel travelling 150 km, the van accounts for 191 g of the 227 g total. On long routes and heavy parcels the linehaul share grows.
Why could my figure be too high?
Vans and trucks are assumed diesel. Where a carrier delivers with electric vans, the real last-mile emissions are lower than the model shows.
Where do I see my footprint?
On the Analytics page of your Dashboard, with the method and sources beside the figure, and in the monthly PDF report that is emailed to your organization's owners and admins.
See the footprint of your own parcels
The figure is calculated from shipment data Dispatchly already tracks, and it arrives in your dashboard and monthly report without extra work.