The company in this case study has been anonymised for confidentiality purposes.
As the world moves to become more carbon-conscious, environmental regulations have increased, and the burden of energy reporting for shipping is handed to the companies who must account for their activities in Australian waters.
Greenbase was approached by a shipping company to assist with their GER obligations whilst working on a gas pipeline construction project in the North West Shelf of Australia. The company required an individual monthly summary report for each vessel that operated within the defined reporting boundary.
These reports focused on:
-
- Electricity produced and consumed
- Hydrocarbons usage (diesel, marine fuel oil, LPG, oils/greases etc)
- Water usage (potable and sea) with associated discharges
- Hazardous and Non-hazardous waste generated, incinerated and disposed to land and sea
- Marine fauna sightings
The company faced a major challenge. A massive volume of data would be required to meet their reporting obligations, with daily progress reports, waste logs and fauna sighting records being generated for each vessel across various file formats (word, excel, pdf).
During peak activities over 10,000 individual records were required on a yearly basis to satisfy the reporting obligations.
To streamline data collection and report generation, the company came to Greenbase for assistance. To complicate matters their NGER report had no set format.
The Solution: Streamlined data collection and report generation
Greenbase began the process by mapping the NGER reporting requirements for each individual vessel. The mapping was then converted into an Excel document (The Ledger) which provided a detailed list of the requirements for data collection that would satisfy the needs of the report.
This process and document allowed for data collection to be streamlined across all company vessels and mitigated the issue of the same data being collected multiple times.
Greenbase also developed a monthly vessel summary report with a standardised format so that results of data analysis in The Ledger could be compiled and distributed as required across the company. This standardisation of data proved to drive efficiency in the reporting process and added a level of value as vessel employees were provided with an understandable breakdown of report details.
Conclusion: A step in the right direction for energy reporting for shipping
Environmental and energy reporting for the shipping industry in Australia has a number of unique challenges that require a tailored approach to data collection, calculation and report generation.
The systemic improvements is this case study generated a higher confidence in the quality of environmental reporting for the company and facilitated a more connected approach to data collection at the employee level for all of the vessels involved in the project.
Further reading: Gold Mining Company wants to lead its industry in sustainability reporting
