The transportation industry is one of the biggest contributors to C02 emissions on the planet. We rely on freighters to deliver everything from bulk materials to electronics, cars and microchips, to pets and food items. In a word, freight shipments are essential to making the world as we know it, function. BUT, according to FreightWaves, “the whole transportation industry was responsible for 8.26 gigatons, or about 26% of C02 emissions in 2018, according to the International Energy Agency. That is equivalent to running more than 37 million trucks for a year.” In plain terms, FreightWaves and Commercial Fleet data recently estimated that one truck has the same carbon footprint as 14 people in a year: 223 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. If one truck has that much impact, it may seem daunting on a personal level, on how to combat this. We need the trucking industry to continue, and we’ve just witnessed a series of breaks in the global supply chain courtesy of first, COVID-19, and then natural disasters.
There is a green light emerging as carbon emissions are tackled globally, and the brightest minds in transport innovation are creating some real, tangible solutions to greenhouse gas emissions caused by essential transportation.
Recently, more and more major trucking companies have come forward with either fully EV or hybrid trucks that are drastically reducing emissions. Just last week, Canada’s 7Gen announced funding for EV powered trucks and charging stations for its Canada-wide fleet with funding from Quebec and Siemen’s Financial Services (Germany). Another company, Veteran Express Secure Logistics has partnered with Hydra Energy’s dual-fuel system which converts diesel trucks to run on both diesel and zero-emission hydrogen. Solutions abound in the trucking industry, and as more companies lean into either fully EV systems, or opt for dual systems in the interim, greenhouse gas emissions will fall and innovations in the industry will keep getting pushed further and further, greener and greener.
Many companies are setting lofty GHG emission-reduction targets and goals for net-zero emissions by 2050. Deutsche Post DHL Group recently released a comprehensive sustainability plan that includes an $8.25 billion investment in green technologies. It is one example of global companies taking on climate change. The great thing about innovation is, it also tends to inspire others to push the idea of what is possible. Kenworth is another line of freight trucks who have opted to go hybrid.
We are excited at what is happening with freighter trucks, and will explore in an ongoing series about sustainability in transportation, just what other modes of transportation are doing to lessen their carbon footprint, without sacrificing the dependability of their services.