Episode 29 | The Catalyst Series: How Procter & Gamble Is Scaling Solutions for Freight Decarbonization

Episode 29 | The Catalyst Series: How Procter & Gamble Is Scaling Solutions for Freight Decarbonization

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Decarbonizing freight at scale requires more than ambition. It requires strategy, collaboration, and the willingness to adopt new technologies before they are fully mature. Few companies are better positioned to illustrate what this looks like in practice than Procter & Gamble.
In this episode of the Catalyst Series, Andy Golding, Director of Strategic Services at Smart Freight Centre (SFC), spoke with Frank Kreßmann, Director of Global Transportation Sustainability at Procter & Gamble (P&G). The conversation explored how one of the world's largest consumer goods companies is working to reduce emissions across a global logistics network - and what other shippers can learn from their approach.

The scale of the challenge
P&G serves approximately 5 billion consumers worldwide across categories including fabric care, personal health, baby care, and grooming. With brands like Pampers, Gillette, Oral-B, and Head & Shoulders moving through supply chains across every major region, the logistics footprint is significant.
Frank leads efforts to reduce transportation emissions globally, overseeing both the operational strategies and the emissions reporting that informs P&G's sustainability commitments. P&G has set a target to reduce finished product transportation emissions intensity by 50% by 2030 against a 2020 baseline.

What has worked so far
P&G has focused on five core levers: minimizing air freight, converting road to intermodal shipments, maximizing asset utilization, using alternative fuels, and improving supply network design.
By focusing on the first three - reducing air freight, shifting road shipments to rail and sea, and improving how full trucks and containers are loaded - P&G achieved an approximately 8% reduction in transportation emission intensity in a single year. That is a measurable result from operational changes that did not require new technology or new infrastructure.

Moving to the next stage
With those foundational gains in place, Frank is clear that meeting P&G's 2030 target will require going further. That means scaling electrification and biofuels.

On electrification, P&G is participating in ZeFES, an EU Horizon-funded project demonstrating the feasibility of long-haul, heavy-duty, cross-border battery electric freight. As part of the project, P&G recently launched a daily battery electric vehicle shipment from its facility in Amiens, France to the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium. Early experience suggests that long-distance, cross-border electric freight is feasible - a significant finding for an industry that has largely viewed battery electric as suitable only for short-haul operations.

On biofuels, Frank highlighted Book and Claim as the right framework for scaling adoption. Because biofuels such as HVO can run on existing equipment, they offer an accessible pathway for shippers who cannot wait for full fleet electrification. Book and Claim allows carriers to purchase and consume biofuel where it is most cost-efficient, while still allocating the environmental benefits to the shipper - even when the fuel is not consumed on a specific route.

P&G has developed a biofuel standard operating procedure that covers feedstock policy, governance, reporting methodology, and a verification scheme. In December 2025, this approach was published as a white paper in collaboration with SFC, offering a replicable model for other shippers and carriers looking to adopt Book and Claim in road freight.

The role of standards and industry collaboration
Frank noted that established standards like ISO 14083 - which defines how transportation emissions are measured and reported - provide an important foundation. However, because standards take time to develop and revise, the industry cannot wait for them to catch up with the pace of technology change.

Instead, he argued, the industry needs to apply the principles behind those standards - transparency, auditability, and clear methodology - to developing quasi-market standards that can keep pace with emerging solutions like Book and Claim, electric freight, and renewable electricity accounting.

That requires genuine collaboration across shippers, carriers, logistics service providers, trade associations, and academic partners. No single organization can solve this alone.

The capacity building dimension
One of the most practical insights in the conversation concerned internal capability. Frank made a clear case that embedding decarbonization into daily logistics and procurement decisions requires ongoing training across every team that touches transportation.

Logistics and procurement professionals make decisions every day on mode choice, routing, and carrier selection. Without understanding the emissions implications of those decisions, and how individual choices flow through to company-level reporting, teams cannot be expected to consistently make low-emission choices.

As Frank put it: if you want to make the right decision, you need to understand what right looks like. Emissions reductions need to be treated with the same level of rigor as any other business decision - and that only happens when people are trained to think that way.

What this means for the industry
P&G's experience demonstrates several things that are useful for any organization working on freight decarbonization.

Meaningful emissions reductions are achievable through operational efficiency, before new technology is required. Electrification and biofuels are ready to be tested and piloted now, even if infrastructure and cost challenges remain. Book and Claim offers a practical, scalable path for shippers to access low-emission fuels today. And building internal knowledge and capability is essential for translating strategy into consistent, daily action.

Listen to the full episode of Smart Freight Conversations to hear the conversation in full. Explore the courses below to build your knowledge of freight decarbonization, emissions accounting, and Book and Claim.

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