The road to decarbonisation is paved with good intentions…

The tectonic plates of the commercial vehicle and road freight sector are shifting, in the direction of a carbon zero future. And for the sake of all our futures they need to, quickly…but we’re worried. 

If you believe the hype, you could kid yourself into believing the industry is in good shape to meet the demands coming through from customers and governments to decarbonise the industry. But, it’s not. We say this not to decry the tremendous work that has already been done by lots of great people on the journey to a carbon zero future, nor is it a half-baked climate-denier response to stick our head in the sand and hope this will all go away.

Dramatic change is coming 

We say it, as a wake-up call, because there is such a monumental amount of work that needs to be done and every business decision is clouded in uncertainty. Depending on which deadline is being worked to – 2035, 2040 or 2050 – the landscape of the industry is going to have to change dramatically and quickly. We don’t just mean the introduction of a whole new generation of trucks – that’s been done before. Nor is it just about energy availability and infrastructure – though that presents big challenges – but we also mean the service and maintenance of the vehicles; the driver and technician training and how the acquisition, reselling and operation of those vehicles is going to be managed. Oh yes…and the big elephant in the room, who is going to pay?

We fully understand the need for deadlines to get things moving, but let’s not underestimate the scale of what needs to be done. The stakes are very high – we have a society hooked on the convenience, reliability and low cost of road freight using hundreds of thousands of diesel trucks to get goods to market. And we have commenced on a journey, which in less than 20 years will completely revolutionise the sector.

We can’t get it wrong

Let’s be clear, the decarbonisation of the industry needs to happen, and urgently, but it’s not a game. If we get this wrong, it could go catastrophically badly – remember the fuel queues (oh the irony) last year when it was rumoured there weren’t enough truck drivers to go round? We welcome the zero-emission road freight trials, the tenders for which closed last week. We’re going to need more of that from agencies around the world and, genuinely, learn from each other to ensure we don’t waste time and money on dead-end solutions.

Over the coming weeks, months and years Freight Carbon Zero will try and shine a light on the challenges and issues the industry will face, sift some of the fact from the fiction and be a resource for all industry stakeholders to share information. As well as this newsletter, check out the website and later this week our new podcast where we’re talking with the industry about how we’re going to tackle the big issues.

–

Get involved in the decarbonisation conversation and comment below. We are keen to hear your thoughts and feedback