Shell & Deloitte unveil ‘Decarbonising Road Freight’ report, aiming to achieve net-zero emissions targets

Based on the views of road freight executives and experts from around the world, Shell and Deloitte have put out a joint study on how to decarbonise the road freight sector. The ‘Decarbonising Road Freight: Getting into Gear’ report offers a detailed 10-year roadmap with 22 solutions aimed at addressing the economic, technical, regulatory and organisational factors influencing the sector’s ability to decarbonise. The report shows that more than 70% of study participants view hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles and battery electric vehicles as the most viable long term zero-emission heavy duty truck technology, and many believe these trucks will become commercially viable in the next 5 to 10 years. “Trucks move virtually everything modern society depends on for daily life and during the current COVID-19 crisis, society has experienced just how critical road freight is in delivering essential goods,” said Huibert Vigeveno, Downstream Director, Shell, in adding, “However, road freight is currently responsible for around 9% of global CO2 emissions and with demand for road freight services set to double by 2050, urgent action must be taken now to put the sector on a pathway to net zero emissions by then. Fleet companies, truck manufacturers and energy providers have already started investing in low and zero emission solutions, but the sector requires a more robust set of policies and regulations to accelerate change.”
Shell has also released a companion report named ‘Decarbonising Road Freight: Shell’s Route Ahead’ outlining Shell’s role in helping the sector decarbonise. The report outlines Shell’s climate ambition and plans to reduce the emissions intensity of its fleet of close to 3,000 contracted road haulage tankers by 10% by 2025 and by 30% by 2030, both compared to 2018 figures. It also sets out how Shell aims to deploy low and zero emission fuels and fuelling infrastructure, solutions for reducing and offsetting emissions, policy recommendations and plans for collaborating with others throughout the road freight sector.