What is the Role of Carbon Accounting in Supply Chain Decarbonization?

As companies come under increasing pressure to decarbonize, carbon accounting has emerged as a critical enabler of meaningful emissions reduction. As British physicist Thomas Kelvin said, “If you can not measure it, you can not improve it.” 

In 2025, shippers face a highly dynamic global emissions landscape, replete with a fast-changing regulatory and trade environment, continually evolving consumer expectations, and forecast extreme weather events. This unpredictable trade landscape, coupled with rising operational costs, leaves companies facing near unprecedented uncertainty in 2025.

In this unpredictable transportation environment, reliable emissions calculation and data provides much needed clarity to establish their scope 3 emissions forecast and output.

For shippers, understanding and acting on their carbon footprint is no longer a strategic option — it’s an operational imperative. Carbon accounting provides the foundation for sustainable logistics planning, emissions reduction strategy, and operational efficiency in a rapidly evolving regulatory landscape. With supply chain emissions resulting in nearly a third of total global emissions, it’s time for businesses to develop the strategic carbon accounting practices required to build a better supply chain. 

The Evolving Role of Carbon Accounting in 2025

Despite  governments scale back domestic climate regulation, shippers remain under significant pressure to decarbonize. Market forces, customer demands, and global policies are all moving in one direction: toward greater emissions accountability.

Nowhere is this more evident than in the European Union, where the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) has continued to scale its impact across the transportation sector both within the EU and globally. Shippers with Europe-bound cargo must now track and report well-to-wake emissions, purchase emissions allowances, and align their operations with a carbon pricing structure that directly affects the bottom line.

The Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) compounds this shift. It applies carbon pricing to imported goods based on embedded emissions, creating a new layer of financial risk for companies lacking visibility into their upstream freight emissions.

Together, EU ETS and CBAM represent a turning point for carbon accounting: accurate, lane-level emissions data is no longer a nice-to-have — it’s the standard of doing business in international trade.

In 2025, Accurate Carbon Accounting is a Business Imperative

For both EU and non-EU shippers, the stakes are high. Failing to comply with European climate regulations can result in financial penalties, delayed shipments, and strained trade relationships. If operators fail to purchase enough allowances to cover emissions under EU ETS, they could face a fee of 100 euros per ton of excess emissions, according to the European Union, with that number rising over time. But the impact of carbon accounting goes far beyond cost.

Carbon data is now central to ESG reporting, supplier evaluations, and customer communications. Stakeholders — from investors to procurement officers — expect measurable, transparent climate progress. That means relying on generic emissions averages is no longer sufficient. Scope 3 emissions, particularly those tied to freight and logistics, must be measured at the lane, carrier, and vessel level. While the EU’s “Stop the Clock” provision offers a temporary pause in maritime ETS enforcement for certain routes, supply chain carbon measurement remains part of the broader EU ETS Omnibus regulation. This pause is not a pass — it’s a window for companies that haven’t started measuring emissions to prepare before enforcement resumes in full.

In 2025, carbon accounting is not just about checking boxes — it’s about building resilience, trust, and competitive advantage in a decarbonizing world.

Today’s Shippers Face Roadblocks in Building Accurate Carbon Accounting Practices

While the need for robust carbon accounting is clear, implementation is anything but simple. Most shippers face serious challenges in building reliable emissions data frameworks.

• Data Gaps and Inconsistencies are widespread. Carrier-reported emissions vary in precision, methodology, and formatting. Some carriers provide high-quality service-level data, while others rely on outdated or incomplete estimates. For shippers, reconciling this patchwork of inputs is time-consuming and error-prone.
• Scope 3 Complexity only adds to the challenge. Freight is often outsourced across multiple carriers and modes, making emissions tracking fragmented. Without a precise, methodical emissions view, it becomes nearly impossible to identify meaningful reduction opportunities — or prove compliance to regulators.
• Lack of Global Harmonization further complicates the picture. While the EU ETS sets the standard in carbon regulation, many countries have yet to align. As a result, multinational businesses must navigate a patchwork of frameworks, each with different requirements and expectations.

With the need for robust and reliable carbon accounting more apparent than ever, global shippers are searching for innovative, actionable solutions to gain control of their carbon emissions. 

Searoutes: Your Ally for Actionable Carbon Accounting

At Searoutes, we’ve built our platform to meet these exact challenges — giving shippers the tools to not only comply, but to lead.

Built for Regulatory Readiness

Our emissions data is fully aligned with the EU ETS, supporting well-to-wake calculations, vessel-specific modeling, and routing insights that reflect real-world operations. Beyond EU ETS, Searoutes delivers GLEC and ISO accredited data, providing businesses with the emissions visibility demanded by a dynamic regulatory landscape. Whether you’re reporting emissions for compliance or planning carbon-informed logistics strategies, Searoutes delivers data you can trust.

Granular, Service-Level CO₂ Data

Our CO2 API provides emissions breakdowns by carrier, vessel, transport mode, and individual lane — enabling shippers to go beyond averages and access the precise data needed for EU ETS and CBAM compliance.

Integrated Decision Support

Through our Routing API, customers can plan low-emission trade lanes that balance speed, service level, and sustainability. Our Vessel API supports ship-specific carbon tracking, including Carbon Intensity Indicators (CII) and other regulatory performance metrics.

These tools don’t just enable emissions measurement — they unlock better decisions.

Carbon Accounting is the Key to Scope 3 Decarbonization

For any shipper seeking to reduce freight emissions and stay compliant in 2025, carbon accounting is the foundation. And for that accounting to be meaningful, it must be data-driven, granular, and aligned with leading regulatory frameworks.

Global brands like Michelin and BASF already rely on Searoutes to clean and standardize freight emissions data for use in procurement, ESG reporting, and international compliance.

With our emissions APIs and optimization tools, Searoutes is helping supply chains move from fragmented carbon estimates to integrated, actionable carbon strategies.

Get in touch with us and start your journey to transform how you measure, manage, and reduce supply chain emissions.