Executive summary
Download the executive summary of Shell’s Industry perspective report Decarbonising Road Freight: Getting into gear to read how to accelerate road freight decarbonisation.
Decarbonising Road Freight
Shell is working with the road freight industry to help reduce vehicle emissions. Decarbonising Road Freight: Getting into Gear is a joint report by Shell and Deloitte sharing views from over 150 road freight leaders. This comprehensive approach identifies barriers to decarbonisation and 22 practical solutions to transition towards renewable energy systems. These findings inform Decarbonising Road Freight: Shell’s Route Ahead, a companion report sharing Shell’s view of decarbonisation pathways and the role that we play.
Why decarbonise?
Across the world, businesses and governments are setting goals in line with the Paris Agreement on climate change.
More than 120 countries have committed to stop adding to the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere by 2050.
Road freight, accounts for around 9% of global CO2 emissions - more than shipping and aviation combined. To meet the goal of the Paris Agreement, absolute emissions from road freight need to decline almost 60% by 2050 versus a 2018 baseline, despite an expected doubling of road freight volume over the same period. However, road freight is fundamental to the global economy and day-to-day lives. Globally, there are approximately 217 million road freight vehicles that range from light commercial vehicles, medium and heavy-duty trucks, to coaches and buses. With such huge scale comes an equally huge challenge; as the global economy returns to growth post COVID-19, so too carbon emissions from road freight will grow.
There are several barriers to decarbonisation; insufficient regulatory incentives, lacking infrastructure and limited demand from shippers for example, and yet despite these barriers there is hope. The industry is facing a tipping point. Increasing demands, accelerated regulations and maturing technologies have created a groundswell of progress.
The industry is already converging on a technology pathway. Most technologies to decarbonise road freight already exist and many truck manufacturers already have fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) and battery electric vehicles (BEVs) in development. The sector has defined a decarbonisation roadmap, which allows it to start deploying low- and zero-emission trucks at scale by the late 2020s.
Shell has identified a wide range of initiatives to accelerate road freight past the planning and design stage of the transition. The solutions include immediate action through the increased use of existing technology, such as battery-electric technology for the shorter-range, lighter vehicles used in cities. In the longer term, they include hydrogen as a fuel for heavier trucks that travel further with a greater load. Greater regulation, increased production and improved infrastructure to sustain growth are key and the principle of collaboration runs throughout.
The challenge is enormous, but so is the opportunity to redefine the energy mix for the road freight sector.
Urgent action must be taken now to put road freight on a pathway to net-zero emissions. 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.
Key insights from Shell and Deloitte research with senior industry leaders from the global road freight sector
Read the transcript
Title: Road Freight Decarbonisation
Duration: 1:43 minutes
Description:
A short video showcases how Shell and Deloitte research with senior industry leaders from the global road freight sector has identified a roadmap for the sector’s decarbonisation pathway.
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Road freight is responsible for around 9% of global CO2 emissions
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Aerial view of trucks with containers lining up in lanes at a port.
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But it's no longer considered 'hard to abate'.
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Multiple white freight trucks are travelling in a convoy across the open road
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So what's stopping this sector from decarbonising faster?
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A male truck driver drives along a road viewed from the inside of his cab
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Shell and Deloitte spoke with 158 road freight leaders
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A business woman looks at a video call with several participants on her laptop
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We believe the sector
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Trucks driving along a motorway in China with Chinese road signs
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is nearing a tipping point
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A bird’s eye view of a truck parking area with a heavy duty truck parking alongside other heavy duty trucks
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It will decarbonise faster than many expect.
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A red North American style heavy duty truck drives past on a road. Camera scene changes to a delivery driver lifting boxes into a delivery van.
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We have already identified the enabling technologies.
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An animation of concept hydrogen truck being filled with hydrogen as a fuel from a fuel pump with wind turbines in the background.
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But must overcome three main barriers
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White text on yellow background reads (with text from above)
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1. Inadequate charging and fuelling infrastructure
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An electric fuel pump charging icon turns red
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2. Insufficient regulatory incentives
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Close to 100 flags from around the world fluttering on flag posts.
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3. Lack of demand from customers shipping goods
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A scene shows a warehouse with many long shelfs full of boxes, and there are a few staff driving forklifts to put the boxes in the right places.
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A clear decarbonisation pathway has emerged
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A Mercedes hydrogen powered truck carrying a tank displaying H2 and driving on a road surrounded by green trees.
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It includes hydrogen
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The front part of a new Hyundai hydrogen truck, with “Xcient Fuel Cell” branding right above the Hyundai logo.
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and battery electric trucks
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Someone is plugging the electric charging cable into an electric truck
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and a roadmap of 22 solutions for the decade ahead.
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Split screen, where the top part shows a group of people having a meeting, and the bottom part shows a white electric medium duty truck in a city road setting. Camera scene changes to four Hyundai hydrogen truck tractor units on a test circuit track
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We must increase adoption of these new technologies
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Hyundai hydrogen truck tractor units shown in two further different views, the first on a test circuit track and the second on open road.
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deploy more low carbon fuels products from waste
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A small bulldozer lifting parcels of compressed waste in a processing plant
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and make existing vehicles as efficient as possible.
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A modern protype truck called Starship developed by Shell driving on a U.S. highway with aerodynamic tractor unit, solar panels on the top of the trailer and other energy-saving design features . Written on the trailer is: “Driving Innovation” and the Shell logo.
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A concerted global effort
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Colourful and decorated South Asian truck drives along road bordered with trees
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advancing policy, knowledge sharing
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Man speaking into microphone at international conference with other participants in large round table setting with flags in the backgrpund.
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and collaboration with other sectors
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a cargo ship being unloaded and containers being put on the dock
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are key for road freight
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A Toyota and Kenworth zero emissions hydrogen truck transporter carrying many cars on its trailer enters the port of Los Angeles followed by a second hydrogen truck with trailer.
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to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.
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A medium duty white Hyundai low emission truck driving on a road surrounded by green grass and some trees. Camera changes to close up of the same truck driving along the road
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Shell logo with hashtag “#MakeTheFuture” and “© SHELL INTERNATIONAL LIMITED 2021”
Explore the publications
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Media release
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World Economic Forum – Agenda blog | January 21, 2021
‘The freight industry's journey to decarbonization’, a blog by Huibert Vigeveno, Downstream Director of Shell
It is very encouraging that road freight leaders have begun to align on a technology pathway. We believe that once produced at scale, hydrogen will likely be the more cost-effective and viable pathway to net-zero emissions for heavy-duty and long-route medium-duty vehicles, and electric mobility will do the same for light-duty and short-route medium-duty vehicles.
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Our climate ambition
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