Book and Claim Community welcomes RSB to join Smart Freight Centre as co-lead of Secretariat
New York City, September 23, 2025 at New York Climate Week 2025, the Book and Claim Community welcomed the Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials (RSB) to its Secretariat, where it will join Smart Freight Centre (SFC) in co-leading the Community’s work. This evolution reflects the Community’s ongoing commitment to collaborative governance and system alignment as book and claim approaches continue to scale.
Since its inception, the Book and Claim Community has made significant progress, including engaging over 300 organizations, developing guidance and tools for credible book and claim implementation, and facilitating pilots that demonstrate scalable, market-based solutions for industry decarbonization. These early achievements have laid a strong foundation for collective action and technical alignment across sectors, thanks also to the work of RMI.
The Secretariat was set up by SFC to ensure broad industry convergence around the book and claim chain of custody model’s use in transportation, harmonizing work on standards, registry and interoperability globally. The Secretariat exists to deliver the work of the Book and Claim Community by supporting transparent governance, facilitating collaboration, and turning shared insight into practical guidance and tools. With the addition of RSB, the Secretariat is further strengthened in its ability to convene stakeholders, support technical development, and uphold integrity in a rapidly evolving ecosystem.
“RSB’s involvement reflects our long-standing commitment to credibility, neutrality and collaboration in supporting industrial decarbonization,” said Elena Schmidt, Executive Director at RSB. “We are here to listen, facilitate, and support the Community as it works toward trusted, consensus-based solutions that can scale with integrity.”
Elena Schmidt
Executive Director, RSB“Since Smart Freight Centre (SFC) set up the Book and Claim Community, it has benefitted greatly from the early leadership alongside RMI in bringing stakeholders together and laying the groundwork for collective action. With RSB now joining the Secretariat with SFC, we can build on this strong foundation.” said Christoph Wolff, Chief Executive Officer at SFC. “Their expertise in sustainability standards and stakeholder engagement will further strengthen our ability to deliver transparent governance, technical credibility, and practical tools that accelerate decarbonization across freight and beyond.”
Christoph Wolff
Chief Executive Officer, SFC
What RSB brings to the Community
RSB’s contribution
RSB joins the Secretariat with over a decade of experience developing and operating credible book and claim systems. Since publishing the first Book & Claim Manual in 2015, RSB has continuously advanced its approach through multi-stakeholder collaboration. Key achievements include launching a digital registry in 2023 and convening 70+ organizations through its Book & Claim Platform. With technical rigor, cross-sectoral experience, and a facilitative approach rooted in consensus-building, RSB strengthens the Secretariat’s ability to deliver on the Community’s shared goals.
“We believe the strength of the Book and Claim Community lies in its diversity,” added Schmidt. “Our role is to help create the conditions for collaboration, technical alignment, and shared progress on decarbonization.”
“This diversity is exactly what enables the Community to develop solutions that are credible, practical, and widely accepted across sectors,” said Wolff. “By bringing together multiple perspectives, we can ensure that book and claim systems scale with integrity and deliver real impact.”
Looking ahead
With more than 300 participating organizations and over 1,000 practitioners, the Book and Claim Community is well-positioned to shape credible, aligned systems for market-based decarbonization.
The strengthened Secretariat will continue to focus on delivering value to the Community by supporting trusted and scalable solutions grounded in shared principles.
About the Book and Claim Community
The Book and Claim Community is a global initiative designed to connect, support, and accelerate collaboration among diverse stakeholders working to decarbonize heavy transport. By fostering dialogue and alignment, the Community brings together more than 300 participating organizations and over 1,000 individuals to drive acceptance, harmonization and scaling of book and claim in decarbonization of heavy transportation. The Book and Claim Community joins like-minded stakeholders in shaping the transportation sector’s voice for credible, aligned systems for market-based decarbonization.
Explore the CommunityAbout RSB
The Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials (RSB) is a global, multi-stakeholder organisation driving the just and sustainable transition to a bio-based and circular economy. RSB’s sustainability framework is widely recognised as the world’s most credible and peer-reviewed foundation for delivering positive climate, environmental and social impacts. Developed through consensus by a diverse membership community, this framework underpins RSB’s certification system, Advisory Services, programmes, partnerships, and policy engagement. From global brands and civil society organisations to innovators and other key decision-makers, RSB supports partners worldwide to turn sustainability ambition into credible action.
Visit RSBAbout Smart Freight Centre
Smart Freight Centre (SFC) is a globally active non-profit organization for climate action in the freight sector. Our goal is to mobilize the global logistics ecosystem, in particular our members and partners, in tracking and reducing its greenhouse gas emissions. We accelerate the reduction of logistics emissions to achieve a zero-emission global logistics sector by 2050 or earlier, consistent with 1.5° pathways.
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