That is the key finding from the Centre for Sustainable Road Freight (CfSRF), a consortium of Cambridge and Heriot-Watt Universities alongside organisations across the freight, logistics and vehicle engineering sectors.
The wide-ranging study suggests that greater use of out-of-town consolidation centres, longer operational periods for HGV distribution, as well as larger, heavier vehicles could reduce HGV emissions by 25% by 2035, compared to today’s levels.
“Meeting the 2050 GHG emissions reduction target at a manageable cost will require significant decarbonisation of the transport sector,” states Dr Maja Piecyk, deputy director of CfSRF.
“Although all forms of domestic transport only account for 21% of total GHG emissions in the UK, road freight is the second largest source, accounting for 22% – 24 million tonnes CO2e – of surface transport emissions in 2013,” she continues.
“This sector is notoriously difficult to decarbonise, due to the limited scope for alternative powertrain options... So we need savings from logistics measures like reduced empty running, extended delivery times, urban consolidation centres and larger, heavier vehicles on long haul.”
The Committee on Climate Change (CCC) recently published ‘The Fifth Carbon Budget - The next step to a low carbon economy’, which includes research findings from the CfSRF.
This reviewed demand-side measures that could be implemented by freight operators affecting the use of HGVs, rather than new truck technical specifications per se.
Types of carbon savings analysed were operator efficiency and logistics measures, including: improved aerodynamics; measures to promote efficient driving styles; routing enhancements; use of urban consolidation centres; reduced empty running; and telematics.
The study finds that, together, these would substantially reduce HGVs’ carbon intensities.
Key areas for policy makers to consider over the next 20 years, it finds, are:
Improving availability of logistics data to facilitate collaboration and improved planning operations;
Clarification of permissible forms of collaboration in terms of anti-competitive regulations;
Developments to permit longer, heavier vehicles;
And facilitation for urban consolidation centres.
The CfSRF study can be found at: https://www.theccc.org.uk/publication/cfsrf-an-ass...