ESG questionnaire in transport and logistics: what is being asked?
A transport company or logistics service provider receiving a sustainability questionnaire will almost always see the same core elements return: how much fuel does your fleet use, what vehicles make up that fleet, and what about transport that you outsource to a subcontractor or charter party. These three topics together form the largest part of what a customer, bank or insurer wants to know, because transport is after all the core activity where most emissions come from.
Beyond that, questions often arise about employees commuting or making business trips outside the company's own fleet, about energy consumption on the premises or in the warehouse, and sometimes about the age or type of propulsion of the fleet. What you actually need to answer depends on who sends the questionnaire and how large your company is; not every question that comes in is allowed to be asked.
Fuel and fleet: the starting point of virtually every questionnaire
The first layer of questions is almost always about fuel: how much diesel, petrol or electricity was filled up or charged in the past year for the company's own fleet. This falls under what the standard calls scope 1, the direct emissions from sources that the company itself owns or operates. For most transport companies, this is the largest figure in the entire report, and it is usually also the figure for which the evidence is already in house: fuel receipts, fuel card data or invoices from a leasing company.
Furthermore, questions are often asked about fleet composition: number of vehicles, weight class, fuel type and sometimes year of manufacture. This is not mere curiosity, it helps the customer to check the fuel figure against what a fleet of that size normally consumes.
Outsourced transport: the trickiest question in the sector
Few transport companies operate all routes themselves. Transport outsourced to subcontractors, charter parties or self-employed drivers falls under a different category in the standard than the company's own fleet, and that is precisely where most confusion arises. The question that comes up about this is often more broadly formulated than what a company of your size needs to provide under the voluntary standard for non-listed SMEs.
Since the chain provision of March 2026, it is the case that a reporting-obligated customer cannot demand more from a supplier with one thousand employees or fewer than is laid down in that standard. A detailed breakdown of each subcontractor, including their own fleet and fuel mix, goes for many companies beyond what is allowed to be asked. Whether this applies in a specific case depends on the exact wording of the question and the size of your company; an overview of frequently asked questions about the boundary of what is allowed to be asked. gives initial guidance.
Staff and work-related mobility
In addition to the fleet, questions often arise about staff: how many employees drive a leased car that does not fall within the company fleet, how much commuting is reimbursed, and whether there is a record of work-related staff mobility. For transport and logistics, this topic directly touches obligations that already existed before ESG was asked about at all, such as the recording of work-related mobility that some companies already keep. Those figures, if they already exist, can often be largely reused for the questionnaire.
What a customer may and may not ask
The standard for non-listed SMEs has been deliberately kept limited, precisely because a small transport company does not have the same reporting capacity as a listed enterprise. Requests that go beyond this standard may be refused by a supplier, and such refusal should be formulated properly—not as a dispute but as a reference to what is stated in the standard. For questions that do fall within this scope, it is often mainly a matter of gathering the right documentation. an overview of the topics that most frequently occur in transport and logistics shows for each topic what is included and what is not.
Where you get the figures from
For most questions that fall within the standard, the evidence is already present in the records: fuel receipts or fuel card statements for scope 1, the energy bill for the building or warehouse, and a payroll extract for personnel figures. You confirm yourself what has been read from these documents; the platform calculates nothing without you seeing and approving it. how those documents become a file explains which sources are used for this and where the emission factors come from.
A file that has been set up once remains in place. For the next sustainability questionnaire from a different customer, bank, or insurer, you do not have to start from scratch, which can make a considerable difference in a sector with many changing clients.
Would you like to see without any fuss which questions apply to your company within the standard and which do not? do the free quick-scan in a few questions or read through calmly first in the knowledge base.