Green Trade: A Practical Approach to Sustainability Compliance 

Machine Automated Transcript:

I’m not going to be able to get, you know, a EB truck, you’re not going to be able to do all of that all in one shot and unless you have the funds, which most companies don’t.

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Hey, folks, we’re back for a nother show simply trade

I was trying to figure out a way to I can kind of like just relate what I’m doing or what we’re doing or how our personal lives or you know how we can kind of segue into the show or whatever.

But it’s hard on this one. Well, I mean,

other than other than I do have an electric car, you know, so and I’ve enjoyed my little That’s right, you’ve got the Mustang note. Yeah, I got my Mustang. Yeah, I’ve been, they told me I was the first one in El Paso to get it. So um, I’m hoping it’s true, because that’s my only claim to fame. But anyway, and we do have a solar panel. So our home is completely offset on the grid offset off the grid. So not off the grid, but we’re, we’re offsetting all our power to the grid, what we’re sucking back off the grid. So we’re about neutral, you know, net neutral on that. And so anyway, I don’t know. I mean, so as

y’all can tell, we’re gonna be doing a show on green, green trade. And we’ve been talking about this for a long time. And we’re so happy that we found someone or you did Andy, go ahead, you can explain that a little better. Yeah,

well, it’s alright. So folks, we are going to get to talk with a young lady by the name of Emily quarry. And Emily is the daughter of a really good friend of mine, Marine Corps, who we’ve had on the show and as well as is she’s just, I’m telling you what Marine is one of those ladies that man, I’m telling you, she’s sharp and just pleasure to be around. So, Emily, if you’re even half as good as your mother, you’re gonna be phenomenal in the industry. So I you know, welcome to our show, Emily, who is that you work for it out.

Hi, thank you both Lalo and Andy for having me here. So I work for woodland group, we are a freight forwarder three pail, we have brokerage department, we also have a sustainability department as well. And, you know, we’ve been doing a lot of work around compliance and sustainability as a whole. And this recent update from CBP last June and 2022. With their green trade strategy, it just made total sense to get on and see what this is about from a compliance and sustainability perspective.

Well, I gotta tell you, I’m looking forward to this discussion. lol I’m sorry, I jumped in. Are you go ahead, buddy. No, no,

I was gonna say good asking Emily how she got into trade as silly as asking how my kids became software engineers, I guess. Right? But but with a mom with a mom in the trade. So we normally asked that, Emily, because we kind of all accidentally got into trade. I’m sure your mom did. You know, but we know how you may have gotten into traits.

heavy influence that right?

This is light, heavy influence there. I actually have a degree in criminal justice with a focus in forensic psychology. My goal was to work for the government actually, in a different capacity, of course. But as I was looking for more work, I was supporting with, you know, some consulting business on my mom’s side. And I actually started to really enjoy it. I was learning more and more as I went, you know, the different policies regulations involved, and it kind of went hand in hand in a way with the criminal justice side that I learned. And eventually I just like most people fell into it and never got out.

Go figure. Well, I will say, again, I’m looking forward to this discussion, because, folks, is you’d heard Emily’s talk about the sustainability here and what does that mean? That’s kind of a new term for for supply chain. And there’s a lot of companies out there they’re creating divisions of sustainability and what the heck does it all mean and even in you know, not it wouldn’t be even even in supply chains, just regular business. All you got to have a sustainability you got to have environmental compliance and all these things that are going on Yeah. And I mean, Emily, please understand, I’m trying to

engage in this thus far of what I’ve seen, I’m like, You know what, the folks that are pushing this are full of beans. I mean, it’s just, you know, it’s like, come on, this is like, you know, let’s you let’s not lose common sense, in the effort to try and go was we want to clean planet, I understand that. I also don’t want to sacrifice current jobs, and in all of this in a way that and raise costs to do business. So as we’re looking at this, I may be hitting you with a few things. So you’re gonna have to really work on me. I’m like this crusty old bird here that you’re like, Okay, let’s bring me into the 21st century here of what we’re talking about here. Okay.

Yeah, I mean, I definitely see a lot of people that are looking to make this happen as soon as possible. And I think those are the people that need to take a step back sometimes and just look at the full picture, they want this as soon as possible. And to be honest, the sooner the better. But there has to be a solid approach. And a lot of these different government organizations, they haven’t agreed on the exact specifics. This was talked about, at the World Trade Organization, the public forum, it was a massive subject about sustainability, especially in iron and steel. And it’s just one of those things that there needs to be some type of cohesion worldwide. And it’s not there yet, but I definitely see the potential of doing it, it just has to be the right methodology, which is the problem right now, they have not come to a consensus consensus on the right methodology for this. So it’s, it’s definitely difficult to pinpoint. And I know there are a lot of skeptics out there. And in my eyes, this should be something similar to CT pap program where it’s a voluntary program first, not casing every single type of regulation, making new policies first, this should be something voluntary to get people, at least their feet wet, the different companies that really don’t have the capability of, you know, supplying this service, or, at least internally being able to do this because it’s hard, it’s not easy. This isn’t my area of expertise, sustainability. But after learning a lot more over the past year, it’s not something that is simple to do, to say the least. And I don’t think anybody believes it will be simple to do, either. It’s just a matter of getting your feet wet, and at least starting to learn about it more, because there are definitely opportunities to slowly do it. But it takes takes a lot of time. And some companies have the bandwidth to actually have a sustainability manager or an entire department. But there’s a lot of, you know, small companies that can barely get by on the regulations that are there or any of the other items. So there’s definitely a balance that needs to be made, which has not been made yet.

Well, let me jump in here is that you’d supplied us with some information. So CBP is green trade strategy. So Customs and Border Protection, this is obviously from the US perspective here. You’ve got here four pillars of the green trade strategy, incentivize green trade. Number two is strengthen Environmental Enforcement posture. Three is accelerate green and innovation and four is improved climate resilience and resource efficiency. So rather than going into a whole lot of detail on some of this stuff, from your perspective, being you know, working for a freight forwarder, or three, Pl type company and all that. So what what is it that your company is doing? Or how are you getting into this woody would, you know, talk talk a little bit about this, because I gotta honestly say, Okay, if I were wanting to, to participate in some of these things, or should I be compliant? I don’t even know where to start.

The best way to explain it is we have different sustainable building models out there, right. But the general consensus is there are three different types of scopes for greenhouse gas emissions, that are categorized in different ways. So we have scope one, which is basically direct admission emissions from sources owned or controlled by the company. So you know, what they’re manufacturing directly

in their control, what they’re utilizing, you know, water, those items to build those models. That’s basically scope one, scope two is the indirect emissions from any purchased electricity like keeping a warehouse set up, Steam, heat cooling to make sure your employees are good to go the recycling aspects of it as well. But the biggest one is scope three, which is all other emissions associated with the company’s activity. So anything from the gas used or sorry, fuel used for shipping through a container, on any type of ship, through a truck, a airplane, any of those emissions that are used, those are part of the scope three, which is one of the largest reasons for this whole sustainability coming up. So it covers the gamut, when you’re looking at a freight forwarder, who is moving all of these goods, we really genuinely look at scope three, for our own internal purposes, as well as supporting our clients with their carbon reporting. And it’s, I probably threw a lot of words out there just now of trying to explain the different areas. But looking at those three scopes, the biggest one for companies that are manufacturers, let’s say is really scope one, and I would say scope three as well, due to the fact that most manufacturers, you know, get their goods from China or India or any anywhere other than potentially where they’re located, the movement of those goods, and it creates a lot of carbon reporting that has to be done. Now, a lot of companies that are on the larger scale, for example, DHL, in the case of a freight forwarder. They have a brand new facility, they mentioned recently in Atlanta, that’s considered net zero or zero emission to it. And that’s a very confusing term, sometimes for people as well. Because saying it, it’s net zero, or they’re hitting their zero target. It’s not a baseline for everybody what zero is, it’s based on every company’s Mark marker on what they decide is that net zero amount. So it is a bit misleading in that sense. And a lot of companies have to figure out what they want to be considered their zero or where they start, essentially. And then it goes to the point of how can we become net zero or zero emissions by 2026? And so forth. So it’s really internally based?

That and that’s something right there. It’s, it sounds like you’ve got a target that is somewhat self imposed, from the sound of that, for the companies and all that. But on the same token, I guess, here’s the when you’re saying net zero, so what would be some of the things obviously, if you’ve got a fleet of trucks, whether you’re a a trucking company, a freight forwarder, or something like or you’re a manufacturer that has trucks and all that, or whatever. So if you’ve got trucks that are burning diesel fuel, obviously, you can’t get to where that they that diesel is going to not emit, you know, exhaust. So what is the offset there? What can I use to offset that to say net zero then to achieve my goal?

So that’s an interesting point, because that was something that I had quite a bit of a struggle understanding as well, at first, when

you’re making me feel really good, because I’m telling you, I’m struggling with this. I’m like, Man, I want to tell some of these folks go pound sand. I mean, it’s just like, some of this stuff is it does not make sense. But it’s like, okay, so what would keep going? Help me out here?

It’s definitely a confusing subject. I mean, I’ve had that issue, myself, I it’s not, you’re not going to get it day one, you really have to learn the different areas. And there are some baseline setup out there that can support you with the understanding the point of net zero and let’s, for example, you mentioned the diesel fuel trucks, right trucks are actually one of the leading reasons for scope three emissions. And you’re not going to be able to get, you know, a EV truck, you’re not going to be able to

do all of that on one shot and unless you have the funds, which most companies don’t have the funds to allocate for that, but some do, which is great for them, they can make that happen easily in that regard. Essentially, when those situations happen, where a company still has to use those diesel fuel trucks right. You then look to other areas of where or you can remove your carbon emissions as well and offset it in that regard. So, for example, you can utilize a program that has a different recycling method recycling your different cardboard boxes, instead of just throwing it in the trash or removing those carbon emissions. That way, let’s say you have in your scope to, for example, a lot of remote work is considered a part of scope to because you’re not having your employees go to the office every day. So those are the carbon emissions there. So you’re offsetting the diesel that is causing all of those carbon emissions to be offset with telling your employees only come in once or twice a day to remove those carbon emissions from your report. If that makes any sense.

Okay, I and I’m getting this. So somewhere some group, there’s got to be a bureaucratic risk where you know, and we may mention this a little bit as far as talking about the European carbon tax that they’ve implemented starting October 1, so it’s already started here. There is some bureaucratic group somewhere that is apparently saying, Okay, so let’s just say this employees that are coming in, they’re working three days a week in the office, two days a week, they’re out of the office working remotely? How do you calculate that? Who comes up with the formula or whatever to say, Okay? Does a company have to look at the your home zip code to their office zip code and calculate how far that is? And say, okay, I can get x dollar or x carbon credits for somebody miles or something?

Yes, so there are a lot of different sustainability calculators or carbon reporting calculators, I should say that we actually did do this here at Woodland where we got the information for the most part from everybody, you know, what their zip code were exactly what you just mentioned, looking to see from the office to where they are home based, and seeing what those levels of emissions would be granted. There can be, you know, room for error, or, you know, a area of room, I guess, like I said, to make sure that it’s not it won’t be an exact exact number.

Well, yeah, I mean, you’re gonna be ballpark it is I mean, that that, I mean, I get that. Okay, so it’s a guideline. But so where do you go to look and see this calculation? I mean, the you’re, you’re saying, This is what scares me, there’s nothing concrete on this, this is like, grabbing up a handful of dry sand in your hands, and running down the beach and trying to keep it all all the grains to get our granules together. As you run it down, you’re gonna be losing. So it’s like, it’s, it’s all over the place here. So

yeah, it’s definitely a lot. I mean, there are different companies and that handle these types of things. For woodland group, we work with a company called Eco Vanitas, or bartis, depending on how you want to say it. And they are basically a sustainability rating company. So they have their own calculations that they’ll provide you. There are, there’s a UN Global Impact compact group, there are ISO certifications for environmental management. There’s quite a few other ones. But this goes back to what I said earlier, the decision of you know, global sustainability calculation. So there are, I can’t name them right at this moment, unfortunately, because there are so many, there are a few in the EU, and I believe the World Trade Organization is looking to develop a specific calculation to be utilized worldwide. what those look like at the moment I do not have on me, but that is something that we could always talk about, again, when when I have it or when it comes out. I don’t believe it

came out as an official document yet or regulation, but they are working on it again, that’s exactly what was discussed during the World Trade Organization public forum this year. So there’s a lot of different areas for these calculations.

Alright, so what Alright, so let’s stop for a second because there’s a couple of things and I want to clarify something here. I’m not trying to put you on the grid to try to defend all this. You’re just dealing with this. I mean, you may be supportive of it or the intent but on the same token, you know, my questions, there’s no doubt I’m somewhat cynical, so forgive me if it comes wrong. Forgive me folks and listeners is like if I come across as being pretty obtuse about this, I don’t mean I mean, to be disrespectful, I’m just like, I’m not buying what people are selling here, it’s like, the problem is, is that policies and additional costs and things are being slammed down everybody’s throat on this, and it’s not set in concrete, it’s not, you know, it’s like, you know, it’s like the goalpost keeps moving, and people are trying to go there. And like you said, there are people that seem to be in key positions, Europe and US and around the world, that are pushing this agenda that they’re trying to do it extremely fast trying to get everybody up. And it’s like, you know, what, I with all due respect to it, it’s unrealistic to think we can truly get to net zero emissions, you’re gonna have situations there. So then I’m hearing Okay, the offset? Well, there you go is like great. One of the excuse me, folks, one of the things that I did not realize that you just hit on so that is that there are service providers that apparently are in that have these environmental measurements or guidance and all that that you need to reach out to if you’re going to start looking at this.

Yeah, absolutely. At the green trade Innovation Forum, they there were quite a few companies actually, that had different modules for, you know, sustainability purposes. Some of them were related back to traceability, which is a topic that’s very difficult for a lot of companies right now, including for forced labor purposes. And if they are a CQ Pat members, that’s also a part of it as well. It’s, it was actually remarkable how many different companies had different modules. But that goes back to the problem again, which one do you choose? How do you know this is the right one? And what will you do to make sure you can actually compete with other companies that might have those different modules to it’s, it’s, again, not a one size fits all right now, it’s, there’s still no clear path, like you mentioned, Andy, and it’s clear that they want to figure out this path. But there are so many different avenues that the EU, UK, they’ve been looking at that they still themselves haven’t come to a consensus to. So it’s a bit of a limbo, I would say right now in what will happen in the future, whether it be policy related volunteer programs, like CT Pat, during the green trade forum, that was actually my point of comment for the green trade strategy is that this is a very complicated area, the best way to move forward is to try out a type of voluntary program with a similar setup to the CD pap program where it’s not a requirement. But it gives companies the opportunity to try out and see if they can actually become sustainable in the future that any type of policies or regulations come into place

for them, if they if they do comply. And they have I mean, that’s what CT Pat does, they’ll give you a front of the line privileges they give you, you know, mitigate it, you can mitigate some some of your your fines and stuff like that. I mean, yeah, I mean, it makes sense. I mean, if you want to do that, you know, that’s up to you, right. I mean, and and of course, a lot of people will follow suit, in my opinion as as, as technology or the resources become more available. I mean, we talked to someone recently right Andy that that talked about how an Eevee truck can sure as heck haul stuff is not going to make it to the end of the run if it’s heavy versus light, you know what I mean? And and their

industry tracks and checks all that, you know, the freight and they literally count at 19 Tesla, Evie trucks being hauled by a gas powered truck, you know, back to there to get charged, you know, because they just couldn’t get it, where it needs to get. But again, of course, we’re early in this, but but I’m just saying I like that idea of being a voluntary program versus forcing it down your throat.

Exactly. I think the way that it come off to a lot of people I mean, it sounds like that potentially to you, Andy, that it’s being forced without really any guidance, any clear path. And having a type of voluntary program gives companies the opportunity to benefit from sustainability options. While not, you know, pushing and spending money on sustainability or carbon reporting or ESG targets that they generate And we cannot meet yet. It makes better sense for, you know, the trade community to go with a voluntary route first, rather than just pop these policies in place and decide that, okay, we’re gonna find anybody who can’t, you know, meet these requirements or these, this puts companies out of business in a way, because they can’t meet those

who can’t meet the requests. And that’s where I might Okay, so I mentioned this earlier, it’s Europe is implemented there, October 1, they implemented a carbon tax, if you will, on goods that they determined, have not been manufactured in a green environment, if you will, or whatever, green initiative. So there is a group within Europe that appears to have or are still working it out. I don’t know. But they’ve they’ve implemented this. And understand I look at this as a non tariff trade barrier. Why because it inflates artificially the cost of goods by adding a tax, that some group has said some bureaucratic group has said, Oh, that’s coming from the US, or that’s coming from Canada that’s coming from Italy, oil, that’s your excuse me, are from some other location, this widget was not manufactured in a green sufficient manner that we agree with. So here’s, bam, here’s a tax. So if you’re in the US, and you’re trying to export your goods out, it can be voluntary or not in the US regarding some of this, but then if you’re going to do business, at least in Europe and other countries around the world that are doing the same thing, you have to have some kind of measure here to say, Oh, yes, we are green. And here’s how we’re doing it. And you’ve got to be able to put together sufficient reporting, so that it can defend your position on whatever so you can minimize or avoid additional taxes on your goods. Would that be a pretty fair statement there?

Yeah. And what? Luckily, with see them right now, they just put into place the reporting of companies and missions into the EU. Luckily, the taxing doesn’t begin until January 2026. So essentially, this point, the EU is looking for people to figure out their reporting mechanisms, how they’re going to have that traceability, specifically for manufacturers, this isn’t covering so much scope, three of the transportation, but more so how these goods are manufactured like steel, iron, aluminum, hydrogen, fertilizers and other energies. So with that, it comes back to traceability for a lot of companies, which is, can be very difficult, especially with the different areas, if they’re getting it from manufacturers in China, India, or anywhere like that, they have to go all the way back to the source directly. There’s some traceability models that I actually did have the opportunity to see during the green trade strategy, Innovation Forum that showed how they can go all the way to the seedling that was planted exactly when now how feasible that actually is. I’m not gonna say because I don’t actually know if that’s genuinely feasible. I think the a lot of these companies right now are just trying to figure out their traceability when it comes to all of these different emissions for their goods. I know, steel, and iron has been doing this for a little bit of trying to find these due to other regulations. Again, it’s hard because there are so many different groups that have different regulations, or I should say governments that have different regulations. And again, it goes back to the point. We need some

type of baseline as a global front that people can work off of, for each individual country. No, every country is going to want to have their different types of reporting regulations and so forth. But there should be some type of mechanism that is shared worldwide. Like you had mentioned earlier. Andy right now there isn’t one. There are a lot of companies and a lot of government agencies that have some type of baseline they’re using. But it again, comes back to some type of uniformity on it, which right now, it’s not there, but it’s being worked on.

Well, to your point, here’s something that I’m kind of detecting so as we’re talking through this. This is like peeling back the layers of an onion, good night. I mean, it’s just it just never seems to end either. This is an onion that seems to keep growing at the same time. With that. You have the manufacturing of the widget itself, but then there’s also got to be the transportation of that widget from Point A to Point point B to point C to point D, whatever. So you’re gonna have from the factory to a distribution center to, you know, maybe a wholesaler to a retailer or whatever the case may be. So let’s talk about a little bit of that. Is that a company that may be selling a product? Will they need to also be accounting for what service providers? How those goods are being transported and what the carbon emissions would be or something?

So is this in relation to see them? You mean, or just in general?

Just just in general, I mean, it’s just I’m sitting here going, I gotta tell you, the more I keep listening through this, I mean, my listen, I’m dumb as a box of rocks, I keep saying that. You have to keep it simple for me. And as I’m drawing the boxes, as I keep looking at this stuff, you know, I keep looking at it like folks this this is I would love to look at it go not no, but hell, no, I’m not going to do this. But you don’t have any choice. It’s like, you’ve got to implement some things. I’ve got an idea of where I want to go with this. But it’s like, I’d love your comments on this. Because I want to pull this back around. This is so massive in the sense that I want to talk about to our listeners, what is your action on this? What is the nuggets of knowledge that you need to become proficient on? And so we’ll get to that in a second. But so it from a trice, abilities you’re talking about, you’re talking about not only the manufacturing of the widget, but what about the transportation of that widget, you have to keep up with that as well?

Yeah, so that would be considered the scope three area that, again, is the largest area, a lot of let’s go with manufacturers, again, they’ll have to understand their internal, you know, scope one and scope two, that’s under their purview. But a lot of these manufacturers can decide to utilize companies that have sustainability models, or can give the carbon reporting. So that’s where that traceability, I would say, would come in. But right now, they haven’t decided that in regards to manufacturers, I can very well see that they want scope, one, two, and three from manufacturers, especially in the US, I could see that happening in the future. What most companies should do if they are importers or exporters as well, they should look for the logistics companies that actually can provide those carbon reporting for themselves, including the each and every shipment if they can have that capability. Again, this is something that is new. So there is wiggle room for a lot of companies to figure out and get through those modules of learning. You know, what ESG is, which, you know, stands for environment, social and governance when it comes to carbon reporting and sustainability, just as an example, as well as the scope one, two, and three, and what it means for their companies. Luckily, here at Woodland group, we have those models. And we do provide that as

a service. And it has benefited a lot of different companies. In that regard, especially since we are located in the UK. And we do a lot of business in the EU, it’s definitely something that a lot of companies are looking into. And again, there are a lot of companies that aren’t, it all depends on the bandwidth. And just making sure that you’re at least keeping up to date on the different policies and everything. I think a lot of importers and exporters should pay attention and start looking into the different areas. I don’t think they’ll need this just yet. But they should definitely ensure that they at least start looking at those models. And another point actually, just to help any importers exporters that are listening into this, the EPA actually has a website called smart ways, which gives you a list of truckers, logistics companies that have different carbon reporting levels that you can utilize to decide which truckers or companies you want to use in the United States. So it definitely is something that I actually wasn’t aware of until the green trade forum. And it definitely after looking at it shows how many companies actually are already on the ball with this. So there are quite a few options out there already. You just have to look for them or, you know, go to the right people to ask for that help. Sometimes, you know, they don’t a lot of companies, again, don’t have that capability. But there are a lot of resources online that can definitely help as well.

Well, to your point. I mean, you touched on something that you said at Woodland that you’re doing with your company that you’re offering that as part of your services is for the carbon repair. wording and those kinds of things. Just on a side note, before I go any further, who the Sam Hill do you report carbon reports to, I mean, who gets this stuff.

So internally or externally, at least for external purposes, we are ISO 14,001 certified, which goes back to the environmental one, we have the gold EcoVadis rating that we also report to, starting with this see, bam, we are only truckers so we don’t get involved in that. But we do provide that service to any of our importers and exporters that are looking to get those carbon reporting levels. Our sustainability manager has named Stan Warren, he is the guru of sustainability in my eyes here, it would blend and probably anybody that I’ve met so far. So he has created such a well rounded program of understanding carbon emissions and helping our customers ensure that they have the right skill sets the right setups in place procedures, if they are looking to become you know, carbon neutral, or at least start reporting on their carbon emissions. I mean, a lot of companies, they don’t have to set, you know, a carbon neutral or net zero level, it just might be a good idea to at least see what their carbon emissions are right now.

Alright, well, let’s add let me let me take it a step further here, then, is that as far as what I’m hearing, because we’re gonna have to wrap it up, we’re gonna have more discussions. Emily, I can tell you this because I, I want to get into the I actually would love to get into some debates on this kind of stuff to say, I think you guys are full of you know what, but anyway, that said, in all with the takeaway for our companies here that if you’re an executive, if you’re a company owner, if you’re a small business, if you’re a farmer, good night, farmers agriculture, you really need to be listening to this from your perspective, because whomever is going to be able to go ahead and incorporate into your daily business. In your operation. I’m talking again, companies and farmers and and you know, all these things, you’re going to have to figure out how to deal with whether you support this carbon reporting or not, you got to deal with it, because regulations are there are some folks that with all due respect, I think they’ve lost their head, but it’s like, okay, they’re shoving us down our throats. Regardless, it to me, it’s not a voluntary program, they can, they can say that, but in reality, with all these different things going on, you’re not going to be able to do business, internationally or

domestically, unless you have this kind of stuff. So I applaud woodland for incorporating some of this reporting into your deals. But the takeaway, okay. It appears that when you your, your purchasing folks, or sourcing folks, when you source a product, whether you’re going to have it manufactured and then sell abroad or whatever, what are you going to do are you’re trying to import goods or whatever you’re trying to do, whenever you’re sourcing these goods. Part of that process should be involved from a again, it shouldn’t just be the sourcing people that used to be, they’re looking for bigger, better, faster, cheaper, they’re looking for just the cost of manufacturing the wood, that widget and be done with it, you better look at this holistically. And look at it from an import export compliance and environmental compliance. I will say sustainability, environmental, whatever, look at vetting this from a, you know, denied parties are restricted parties screening, the forced labor prevention, act type screening, then there you get to the cost of the goods and how it’s done with all this stuff. So in that you’re going to need to have people from different departments look at vetting a specific product and vendors, as you’re looking at that. So then you have to incorporate the cost of the goods, where they’re coming from, and then the transportation thereof and then take it to the next step of the delivery to your end customer. Would that be a fair statement there, Emily to help guide me in this carbon world.

That would be a very good way to put it from, of course, the compliance, you know, perspective, especially since it’s coming from CBP now to it’s definitely going to be for any compliance managers, or any anybody who, as you mentioned, sourcing or anything of the store, it’s going to be one of those topics that will be a part of every area of the supply chain. Especially when you are an importer, manufacturer farmer, like you had mentioned, that’s where it’s going to be the hardest because you need to have every single scope in that regard. Some freight forwarders, they might support like with one does. And they only really have to do scope three and small bits of scope one and two for themselves. The hardest part will be for the manufacturers and the importers and exporters for scope one and two, specifically, scope one. And yeah, I think what you just mentioned was the right on, and it’s just going to be a part of the trade moving forward, no matter what you want to say, if you don’t want to believe it, it’s coming. It’s going to happen. There are multiple regulations that are just waiting for the final rule. There’s one from the FTC as well, California just posted one regarding carbon reporting as well. So just be prepared.

Well, alright, so let’s again, let’s, let’s keep looking at this. I mean, we’re gonna need to wrap this up for this particular show. But I will say that I, I see where you’re going in, in looking at it, but it let’s say, again, let’s go back to the agriculture, as well as truckers, the scenario there that is from an agriculture, you’re going to have your farm equipment. So to me, it would be one of those, I guess you would have to have a choice that how much fuel are you utilizing and keeping up with that, or the number of hours that you are your equipment is running. So you have to look at that. And for burning fuel. The other scenario there is like, for example, pesticides. And I guess you even talked about, you know, the seeds, where did the seeds come from, I guess you’ll have to find out that source to see what they went through to harvest those seeds and in create that, but in looking at it, at least the two things that are the most prevalent would be, you know, the number of hours or fuel burn, that’s an option. And the number, the gallons of of, let’s say pesticides you’re using in that role, then is like then when you harvest it, I guess you’d have to look at it and say now let me divide the number of fuel burn and and pesticides and whatever I’ve used fertilizers across Oh, that’s the other the third thing is pesticides and fertilizers, across the the crops that you harvest, and come up with, okay, this is my carbon contribution, whatever. The other scenario would be on truckers and trucking firms. Same thing are you going to use the number of hours that you’re the tractors are running, or you know, the the amount of fuel that you actually burn? So you know, it may be easier to look at that

and then look at well, you’ve got to somehow keep up with the number of miles. So you know, you look at the number of gallons of fuel that you have ordered and kept up with versus the number of miles and then translate that into do you do that by per pound of what you’re hauling to? I don’t know. I mean, this is like the complexities here. It’s like it boggles my mind. So I don’t know that’s that’s one of those is that what you’re looking at Woodland there is how do you with what you’re offering, you’re looking at number of carbon emissions per mile or per pound or what?

So we look through a lot of different areas, and it’s really the carbon emission. So I would say more. So you know, how many miles are taken, let’s say for the trucks and what fuel is being used? Do we use any type of more sustainable fuel in that regard? Granted, those are not as readily available, and they can become more pricey, but then it brings your carbon reporting or your target and brings you to your targets for the carbon reporting. Let’s say in that regard, it really comes down to all the different areas of the emissions that you’re having. It can be distance, the weight of those shipments causing more fuel to burn. The number of shipments that we’re handling, let’s say just from a freight forwarder perspective, not from a in the agricultural area. But in those regards. It comes down to you know, do we use a better route that requires less miles to go so there’s less fuel being burned. There are multitudes of different ways to kind of report it but in general While it’s covering the average amount of co2 that you are using, per route, at least in our area, you know, from, let’s say, the UK to New York in regards to ocean, how much fuel is being used for per container per shipment? Let’s say it can vary. So it’s not always, again, unfortunately, it’s not always a straight answer. I know you want a straight answer, Andy, it’s a case by case basis, I would say. But for the most part. In general, it’s, you know, the emissions break down from the different routes that you choose the energy you’re using, even the type of truck you’re using, is it a more, not just Evie, but let’s say is it a hybrid? Or is it an older model that really burns through fuel a lot more than other ones. And those are things that may be right, as you get, let’s say, a sustainability audit, you can see, okay, maybe I can get rid of one or two of those trucks and get a new one that has more mileage to the gallon, just as an example. And then for, let’s say, a farmer, you know, you mentioned pesticides and fertilizers, there could be potential that there are fertilizers that they can utilize, that aren’t as harmful to the environment. But it does go back to cost too, if they want to incur that cost of it being more expensive for their fertilizers, but then they reduce their carbon emissions as a whole. There are a lot of options, though, to that aren’t as expensive for the different fertilizers for set per se, or different emissions. I think over time, just to add, I think there will be a lot more options that are more sustainable, but we just don’t have them yet. And just going back to what you said, I can’t give a definitive, I think it’s just a case by case and customer basis, you know, what you do, how you do it, where you’re going to, it can change how those carbon reports look, or how

I go? Well, I will say and what you definitely know, your you’ve got your wealth of knowledge in this, and I have, and I’m enjoying this conversation, I wish that we could keep going here, but for right now, folks, I’m gonna say this, we’re gonna have Emily the corries contact information in our show notes. And I you know, as you’re, if you’re looking at this and trying to work through some scenarios here, it sounds like first like, and I’m not trying to do an advertisement here for you guys. But it sounds like woodlands got a, you know, has been thinking through some things. I’m sure there’s other companies out there, they’re dealing with that as well. But on that vein, I will say there’s a lot here that we need to talk through, I would love to have a follow up on some of this, especially in relation to any information you get regarding the European situation, or even in the US and some things of that nature. But folks, I will tell you, again, this is one of those, we’re talking about green energy sustainability, whether you support this effort or not, you have to deal with it. So from a business perspective, you better jump on the bandwagon and figure out, and there may be some cost effective

ways to do it. I would definitely be reaching out to Emily, in this scenario, if you’re looking at at least a service provider and transportation, how to look at it, maybe go forward with it. But with that, Emily, any last words from you is for for right now.

I think this is a subject that’s going to be generational, I don’t think it’s going away anytime soon. I think everybody should at least start becoming prepared to have this as a part of their policies and procedures. Whether it be next year or five years from now, it’s definitely a topic to look at.

Fortunately, I think it’s going to dramatically increase cost and which is going to translate into your the prices of goods going up because to be in compliance with this. So to all my gen Zers Gen Xers, Gen wires, whatever, you know, the stuff has been pushed and you’re shoving it down our throats. And guess what, I’m gonna throw it up right back on you and say, You know what? Be careful for what you wish because you get it. And now here’s it translates into unrealistic cost here, in my opinion, but, you know, I get I guess I would be considered old school here. I don’t know. But, Emily, what a pleasure. I am looking forward to we’re going to schedule you again. And we’re going to have some more discussions on some of this. And matter of fact, we may need to be looking at if anybody out there wants to participate in this kind of conversation. You know, feel free to you know, maybe we’ll set up a panel on some of this, but I want to get into a little bit more details on some things as well on this for the next go round.

Yeah, absolutely. I would wants to come back and speak on this more. Yeah.

lol Oh, my friend, I just I know that we’re going to have her contact information. I don’t know if we’re going to be able to get any other links to some of this other than the CBP green trade initiative link, we may need to look at that. But I don’t know, I’m just I’m not fully convinced yet. I’m just like, No, what I’m looking at now gotten her I don’t like this, but we got to deal with it. Okay.

We’ll have, I’ll reach out to Emily. And if there’s any other links and stuff that people might want for resources, you know, I’ll be more than glad to post them on the show notes. And they can go out there but for sure, they’ll have Emily’s contact information from LinkedIn, and they’ll have her the link to whittlin. But you know what, we’ll try to add as many more that we can. But thank you, Emily.

Yeah, of course. And we can also I can provide our woodlands sustainability models as well for anybody who is interested in learning more or just trying to again, get their feet wet and sustainability and carbon reporting.

Folks, have a great day hope you give us some feedback on things of this. And again, we thank you, Please share the show and make comments and go from there. With that. Have a great day.

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