Low Emission Fuels and Vehicles (LEFV)

More governments and companies are setting climate targets, including for freight and logistics, with the end goal of zero emissions before 2050. For shippers that make use of road freight to ship materials and products to their destinations, multiple solutions such as biofuels and electric and in future potentially hydrogen can be effective strategies to reduce emissions. Most of them combine ambition with pragmatism: use low emission fuels and electric vehicles where these are viable today and transition towards zero emission freight vehicles over the next decade that run on renewable electricity or green hydrogen.

The Low Emission Fuels and Vehicles (LEFV) project aims to remove barriers and accelerate the uptake of LEFV solutions by shippers and LSPs as freight buyers, in particular those with consumer-facing products and road freight trucking in Europe, but their carriers and other stakeholders will also benefit. The project started in March 2020 and is carried out as a project under the Global Logistics Emissions Council (GLEC) that is managed by Smart Freight Centre.

The LEFV program consists of four related projects to introduce, report, decide and collaborate on LEFV solutions:

1. Introductory guide: LEFV for road freight.This guide, launched in September 2020, creates a common starting point for different stakeholders who have a role to play in this transition: freight transport operators (‘carriers’), freight transport buyers (‘shippers’), energy and infrastructure providers, vehicle and engine manufacturers (‘OEMs’) and policy makers. The report explains the fundamentals of low emission fuels and energy sources, the current landscape, industry experience and perspectives, and introduces the concept of ‘Total Emissions of Operation’ (TEO) to supplement the total cost of operation (TCO).

2. Calculate and Report. The transition and zero emission fuels pose new challenges to calculating and reporting GHG emissions. Shippers and carriers will require more detail on the origins of the fuel used (e.g. which feedstock was used or the source of electricity) to establish the correct emission factors and calculate their emissions correctly. The project is:

• building on the GLEC Framework for Logistics Emissions Accounting and Reporting
  
• aligning calculation methodologies with the new ISO 14083 standard
• creating a harmonized and up-to-date set of emission factors which are most representative for the new fuels (module 1 of the GLEC Framework) and can be used for reliable and consistent reporting.

3. Decision Making. Shippers, LSP and carriers will require to take decisions on what low emission fuel and vehicles solution would be suitable for their application and market. This project will support companies in taking this decision, through developing the LEFV Decision Making Matrix on a country level. This will enable shippers, LSP and carriers to understand what LEFV solution to consider, select and implement with their partners. In three stages, the matrix will assess LEFV solutions on:

• Applicability of the solution for their specific use case in terms of operating ranges, payloads and technology
• Availability of the solution in the market, considering infrastructure and vehicle supply as well as legal requirements
• Feasibility of the solution in terms of costs and emissions

The matrix will incorporate the information from political, economic, social, technical and environmental dimensions, enabling shippers, logistics suppliers and other partners to collaborate on implementing LEFV solutions today and is intended to be updated annually. The initial focus is on road freight in France, expanding to Europe thereafter.

4. Implement and collaborate. The new LEFV solutions require companies to pilot, trial and scale up new LEFV solutions. This GLEC project explores the possibilities of facilitating this collaboration on implementation of LEFV in France (as a pilot country) by:

• Establishing LEFV collaboration profiles for interested GLEC members
  
• Providing match-making between GLEC Members to facilitate potential collaboration
• Supporting the identified projects with freight emission reduction calculations and dissemination

For more information contact: Rik Arends, rik.arends@smartfreightcentre.org, or Eszter Toth-Weedon, eszter.toth-weedon@smartfreightcentre.org