CO2 Allocation in Road Transportation for Alwex Transport AB : A comparison of mathematical frameworks

Sammanfattning: Author: Andreas Sichwardt Tutor: Peter Berling Examiner: Helena Forslund Title: CO2 Allocation in Road Transportation for Alwex Transport AB – A comparison of mathematical frameworks Background: Global warming and the awareness of environment forces companies nowadays to offer environmental friendly and ethical products and services. Customers are eager to know where their products are from, how they are manufactured and to what extend they harm the environment. Environmental accounting became more and more important. It allows companies to allocate carbon dioxide on the transported products and thus to provide their customers with transparency. Research Questions: How can a company allocate correctly the CO2 emissions to the respective product which were effectively caused during the product’s transportation? Which framework should be chosen? The easiest, the less costly or the most precise? Purpose: This paper is dedicated to investigate the Alwex Transport AB’s calculations of CO2 emissions in order to find a useful framework that allows a better allocation of carbon emissions as the current calculation method. Method: The empirical data and research outcomes are based mainly on quantitative data. A short interview providing qualitative data was carried out as well. The outcomes base on the comparison between two different mathematical methods. The thesis is based on the positivistic perspective and on a deductive approach. Conclusions: Due to the nature of medium-sized companies, restrictions do not allow to implement sophisticated frameworks with high precision and accuracy for calculating and allocating CO2 emissions. Thus, a suitable framework that allows guarantees simplicity, accuracy and a flexible use is required. The new method presented in the thesis provides the company with a suitable method fulfilling its restrictions.