In a new report, Making Zero Emissions Trucking possible: An industry-backed, 1.5°C aligned Transition Strategy, backed by industry leaders, the Mission Possible Partnership (MPP) has released a transition strategy outlining how the heavy-duty trucking sector can reach zero emissions by 2050. This report details a future of zero-emissions trucks and a rapid roll-out of supporting infrastructure. With trucking demand in China, Europe, India, and the United States expected to more than double by 2050, the need for quick action is clear.
Endorsed by major global players involved in MPP’s Road Freight Zero coalition, including ABB, DP DHL Group, and IKEA Supply, MPP’s Trucking Sector Transition Strategy provides a shared vision for the industry’s low-carbon future, detailing real economy milestones for not just 2050, but also for the near-term.
By creating a comprehensive transition strategy, this multi-dimensional report addresses the current landscape of efforts and the progress that will need to take place in both the near and long term. By outlining a range of decarbonization options including technology readiness, availability, applicability, cost, and resource efficiency, this report provides a tangible roadmap for change.
Making trucking decarbonization possible
With trucking demand surging globally, it is increasingly clear that this is an important sector to decarbonize. A swift, decisive move to zero-emissions trucks and a rapid rollout of infrastructure are needed to achieve net zero by 2050. Some key insights unveiled in the transition strategy include:
- ZE (Zero Emissions) trucks will be cheaper to run than diesel equivalents. Already, operational green EV fleets have achieved substantial savings. Most ZETs will achieve superior Total Costs of Ownership (TCO) between 2022 and 2033.
- Policy is another means to achieve zero emissions from trucking by 2050. Strategies to coordinate the supply of ZE vehicles and refueling infrastructure will prevent a cumulative 6-13 Gt of CO2e emissions.
- Achieving zero-emissions trucking is cheaper than continuing to burn fossil fuels. Higher vehicle costs will be more than recouped through lower operating costs.
- Financing the transition in developing economies will require more capital, creating an opportunity for global climate finance to enable a worldwide transition to net zero.
- Innovative business models and financing instruments can leverage ZETs’ lower operating costs in order to mobilize capital to pay for their purchase.
- Operators need more public charging and hydrogen stations, a more mature ZET production value chain, and enough grid power for both charging and hydrogen (H2) production.
“Trucking is a sector on which we all depend. Demand in China, Europe, India, and the United States will more than double by 2050, driven by appetite for consumer goods, construction, and food in developing economies,” said Matt Rogers, CEO of MPP. “Every business in every region will be accountable for ‘Scope 3’ emissions across their value chain. Transport industry leaders, signatories to our report, are ready to act.”
Making net-zero transport possible
This report joins a series of sector transition strategies that MPP is developing. Of the seven harder-to-abate sectors MPP is addressing, three are from the transport sector: aviation, shipping, and trucking. Together representing about 10% of global GHG emissions, they share multiple common characteristics, with high expected demand growth rates, expensive long-life assets, and significant demands on new energy systems.
The three sector transition strategies highlight how these sectors can transition to climate neutrality—not in silos, but orchestrated across all MPP industries. Footed on the same modelling assumptions, policymakers and financial institutions can compare the findings of all MPP sector transition strategies. Based on these strategy reports, MPP seeks to kick off real-world projects to translate global strategy thinking into real action.
Interactive tool: Trucking zero emissions transition explorer
An interactive tool to explore sector transition scenarios and an open-source Python model providing the analytics underlying the sector transition scenarios will be available later this year.
Signatories
“The potential for heavy duty vehicles to impact how quickly we reach a zero-emission transport future cannot be underestimated. While representing less than 4% of the vehicles on our roads, heavy vehicles are responsible for more than 40% of global road transport emissions. Swift and decisive action is needed to increase the adoption of zero-emission trucks and the crucial infrastructure to support them. As a sector, we have a unique opportunity to collaborate to drive positive change. The time for that collaborative action is now.”
- Frank Muehlon, CEO for ABB E-mobility
“Decarbonizing the transport sector requires a joint effort. Especially in the road freight sector, there are no mature green technological solutions yet, and it’s not even clear whether there will be a universal solution. This is why we at Deutsche Post DHL Group are piloting and exploring different sustainable alternatives such as biofuels, full electric drives, and hydrogen in a technology-open approach while additionally shifting road freight volumes to rail. In this way, we can already significantly reduce CO2 emissions in road freight transport and other transport modes and, together with our partners, develop the right transport concepts for ultimately decarbonized logistics.”
- Uwe Brinks, CEO DHL Freight
“The ambition of Port of Antwerp-Bruges is to be a climate neutral port by 2050. Making zero emission trucking possible is a giant step towards realizing this.”
- Jacques Vandermeiren, CEO Port of Antwerp-Bruges
“At Volta Trucks we fully support the aims and ambitions of the Road Freight Zero initiative and think that this report highlights the barriers and addresses where investment needs to be prioritized. It is positive that the benefits of battery electric trucks are being realized as well as highlighting that TCO parity is achievable in urban logistics. This report is a must read for policy makers and fleet operators alike.”
- Essa Al-Saleh, Volta Trucks CEO
“For us in IKEA it is vital to work together to accelerate the transformation to zero emission solutions in road transportation. It is urgent and it is doable!”
- Elisabeth Munck af Rosenschöld, Global Sustainability Manager for IKEA Supply Chain Operations
“This is the decade of action, and our customers are looking to us to decarbonize their supply chains end-to-end. With trucking playing a key part within end-to-end logistics, we move decisively towards building a landside decarbonization offering for our customers—in line with our target to extend our net-zero efforts to all transport modes in our global operation by 2040. We believe there is an infrastructure development challenge that we urge all governing bodies to prioritize in order to facilitate the energy transition and enable all global trucking to be decarbonized by 2050 as outlined by Mission Possible Partnership.”
- Vice President Alexandra Loboda, Head of Maersk Global Landside Transportation
Signatories as of July 14 include: ABB, A.P. Moller-Maersk, Credit Suisse, DP DHL Group, Inter-IKEA Group, Kuehne & Nagel, Port of Antwerp-Brugges, Volta Trucks, CALSTART/Drive to Zero, Professor Alan McKinnon – Kuehne Logistics University, and Smart Freight Centre.
MPP will continue securing additional signatories through November 2022. Companies who would like to join can reach out to [email protected].
