Supporting the Road to Zero 15% Commitment

Background

The UK Government’s 2018 Road-to-Zero Strategy committed to reducing emissions from heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) and road freight by “introducing a new voluntary industry-supported commitment to reduce HGV greenhouse gas emissions by 15% by 2025, from 2015 levels."

The target is an industry first and both major trade bodies – the Freight Transport Association (FTA) and Road Haulage Association (RHA) – support it together with other freight industry groups. Industry backing is very important for successfully engaging road haulage companies, particularly smaller operators. The FTA has therefore relaunched their Logistics Carbon Reduction Scheme as the Logistics Emissions Reduction Scheme (LERS). The new free scheme adopts the 15% target and supports companies both to meet it and track their performance. LERS also introduced a 5% GHG emissions reduction target for 2020, a significant step towards the industry-wide 15% commitment. LowCVP will support both the Government and stakeholders in the target’s delivery.

Objectives

• Strengthen the support tools, such as the Freight Portal
• Provide robust test data and case study evidence of the effectiveness of fuel and emissions-saving technologies
• Define the metrics to be used to aid both the improvement of logistical efficiency and a 15% reduction in absolute GHG emissions
• Define how alternative, renewable and sustainable fuels use should be counted
• Promote take-up of the target amongst fleet operators
• Monitor the effectiveness of the target and support tools in delivering emissions reductions While the key focus of this project will be on immediate steps to reduce emissions from the existing HGV fleet, LowCVP will also aim to use the target as a vehicle to promote low and ultra-low emission new trucks (ULETs) and to encourage emissions reduction actions across the van sector, too.

Project Management & Stakeholder Engagement

LowCVP Secretariat in collaboration with stakeholders from CVWG, FWG, freight industry bodies, researchers and DfT.

Timeline & Deliverables

April – December 2019