Book & Claim at Scale: How Marken Turned Supplier Partnerships into Verified Emission Reductions

Challenge: A sustainability commitment in a business where the standard playbook does not apply

When Marken's largest pharmaceutical clients sent a joint letter in 2023 asking their key logistics partners to commit to Science Based Targets, Marken moved quickly. Committing to SBTi meant submitting validated targets within two years. What followed was a thorough analysis of emission drivers and reduction levers – a process that led to a 25% Scope 3 transport emission reduction target by 2030, formally validated in 2025.

The answer was unambiguous: transportation accounts for approximately 75% of Marken's corporate carbon footprint, and of that, more than 80% comes from airfreight. For many logistics providers, a significant share of emissions could be reduced by shifting suitable volumes from air to sea or road transport. For Marken, that option is largely off the table. The company's core business is precision logistics - biological samples with short shelf lives, patient-specific cell and gene therapies, clinical trial materials with strict timing requirements and temperature-controlled packaging. These shipments cannot wait for a large vessel to dock, and many cannot even be consolidated with others.

Road freight offered a little more flexibility. Analysis showed that 90% of Marken's road shipments cover medium-to-long distances, making the electrification of vehicles a future ambition rather than an immediate lever. Dedicated drives where a single shipment justifies an entire vehicle are a routine feature of Marken's specialized service model, further limiting conventional consolidation strategies.

The conclusion was clear: Marken needed to pursue emission reductions by working with its existing supply chain partners, rather than by changing how it operates. This is the principle of insetting - engaging directly with contracted carriers and airlines to fund the transition to lower-emission fuels - and it pointed towards a Book & Claim approach.

"To reduce emissions systematically, we first had to understand what we actually had. Operating through hundreds of transport partners, building that emissions picture was a substantial challenge in itself."

Solution: Getting emissions visibility right as the condition for offering reductions to customers

To advance its corporate decarbonization goals and strengthen the sustainability value it delivers to customers, Marken first needed to understand its own baseline in detail and be able to defend it. This sounds straightforward; in practice, it was a substantial undertaking.

Marken operates through a global network – from large international airlines to local carriers, almost none of whom currently provide primary data, the gold standard for emission calculation. Calculating shipment-level emissions across this network required defining methodological assumptions for each transport mode, route, and service type – assumptions that are close enough to reality to support credible reporting and reduction claims, even without primary data.

Working with shipzero, Marken went through the details of its transport planning and execution: which data fields in its TMS actually existed and which needed to be imputed, how to capture vehicle type and load factor correctly across different service lines, and how the emissions intensity of a dedicated drive differs fundamentally from a consolidated shipment. This was not a one-time exercise. It became an ongoing improvement cycle that continues today as Marken integrates newly acquired businesses with entirely different data structures.

A particular challenge was the variation in how different stakeholders calculate emissions from the same shipment. Even when all parties follow GLEC, ISO 14083, and the GHG Protocol, assumptions about load factors and empty running alone can produce substantially different figures. Marken chose to invest in a robust, externally assured methodology so that its emissions data forms a reliable, defensible baseline for both internal target-setting and customer-facing reporting.

From emissions transparency to a customer-facing Low Emission Transport product

With the emissions data foundation in place, Marken was positioned to move from measurement to credible reduction. When shipzero launched its Book & Claim module in 2024, Marken became one of the first customers – together with four participants amongst their customers, one airline partner, and two road carriers.

The starting point is Marken's own SBTi commitment. On an annual basis, the company calculates its target reductions across Scope 1, 2, and 3, and on the supplier side engages exclusively with directly contracted airlines and carriers – the same partners that actually transport its shipments – on SAF and HVO implementation within their own networks. This is what distinguishes the model as insetting rather than the purchase of external carbon credits:

Every reduction is tied to a real fuel investment in Marken's own supply chain

Marken's approach then distinguishes between two allocation models:

· Baseline reductions allocated flat across all Marken shipments: Where Marken achieves residual emission reductions through its own pre-investment, these are mass allocated across all eligible shipments. Every customer automatically benefits through lower reported transport emissions. The resulting claim sits on Marken's account. Customers cannot separately reclaim or resell these reductions, but they flow directly into lower shipment-level figures.

· Client-project reductions, for customers who actively co-invest: Customers who partner with Marken on emission reduction projects – whether towards their own SBTi targets, as a pilot, or in response to requests from their end clients – receive dedicated, verified claim certificates for their allocated reductions. These are exclusively theirs: they can apply them towards their own Scope 3 reporting or pass them on to their end customers. To prevent double counting, reductions assigned under client projects are excluded from the general network allocation pool, and total allocated reductions never exceed audited emissions within the system boundary.

Marken does not bank or carry over emissions reductions between GHG accounting periods. Any reductions generated within the reporting year are reconciled and allocated before the annual reporting cycle is closed. This approach aligns with SBTi's annual assessment framework, under which progress is evaluated on a reporting-period basis. Under the SBTi Corporate Net-Zero Standard v2.0, recognition of market-based interventions within the value chain depends on meeting defined accounting, traceability, and integrity requirements. Marken's approach - generating verified emissions reductions within its contracted transportation network and allocating them through transparent, auditable emissions accounting - is designed to align with these principles.

" We aim to ensure that all Marken customers benefit from a baseline reduction in transport emissions across our network. While the level of reduction varies depending on operational factors, customers can work toward their individual Scope 3 targets by participating in our co-investment program, receiving verified claim certificates for the emissions reductions they support."

Results: A verified product, growing market traction, and a stronger competitive position

Client-specific claim certificates - issued to customers who actively co-invest in biofuel programs - have been in place since the pilot launch in 2024. In 2026, Marken added the network-wide mass allocation layer, completing the two-tier model. The network-wide allocation provides a baseline distribution of verified emissions reductions, while customers can further support their own Scope 3 targets through voluntary co-investment. Customer conversations that were constrained in 2025 by budget approval processes have broadened significantly, and co-investment interest is growing as pharmaceutical clients - over 85% of Marken's customer base by spend holds SBTi commitments - move closer to their own target deadlines.

For many of Marken's clients, transport is one of the few parts of their Scope 3 emissions where activity-based data and concrete decarbonization options already exist. That makes it a relatively accessible area for demonstrable progress. Marken's ability to provide verified, customer-specific reduction certificates has become a meaningful differentiator in tenders and commercial conversations. When customers benchmark Marken against larger peers, the flexibility to design a tailored insetting approach rather than a standardized solution has proven to be a competitive strength.

"With what we have built – supplier relationships, verified data, external assurance – we can respond to client needs, hold our own against industry peers, and most importantly report credible progress towards our corporate commitments."

Outlook: Scaling co-investment and pushing towards primary data

The next phase for Marken is about deepening both the supplier side and the customer side of the model. On suppliers, the priority is securing multi-year contracts for cost predictability as annual reduction targets increase toward 2030. On the customer side, the focus is on integrating the Low Emission Transport offering into standard commercial discussions and further broadening the base of clients who actively co-invest, enabling the program to scale in line with growing decarbonization ambitions.

The collaboration with shipzero continues beyond the initial build phase. Rail freight has recently been added to the emissions calculation framework. One of the next priorities will be the integration of battery electric vehicles’ (BEV) data into emissions calculations and allocations, particularly as BEV adoption increases in road transport. Another focus will be the incorporation of primary data from suppliers. This step will further improve the accuracy and credibility of Marken's emissions reporting as more carriers reach the readiness to share it.

Marken's experience also holds broader lessons for the industry. Not every logistics provider has the same constraints, but the underlying challenge – needing to make progress on decarbonization while operating through complex, asset-light supply chains – is widely shared. Book & Claim, properly structured and externally verified, offers a way to start engaging the supply chain, rewarding carriers that actively invest in lower-emission fuels, and giving customers something real to report.

"Don't wait for the perfect solution. Start with the first step, be transparent about where you are, and keep improving. The field is still evolving. That means every organization that starts now helps shape the methodologies and practices that will guide the industry."