Improved Emission Data Collection in Air Cargo Processes using ADS-B

The increasing demand for sustainable development has led companies to report their GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions. The calculation of air cargo transport emissions and their environmental impact is currently based on average values and estimations, leading to highly uncertain results, which are not suitable for GHG accounting and decision support. We therefore propose a primary data collection middleware and a calculation model for environmental management information systems (EMIS). The system derives actual flight trajectory data from the upcoming secondary surveillance radar technique ADS-B (Advanced Dependence Surveillance Broadcast). Following a design science research approach, we present the system architecture, the calculation logic and evaluate our results against a common calculation standard, using a Product Carbon Footprint (PCF) case study. The result of this paper is a Green IS artifact for decision support, which enables to reduce GHG emissions and greener transports, based on more detailed GHG emission reports.