First meeting of the Common Interest Group on Decarbonising Heavy-Duty Road Transport
ITF Meeting
The aim of the group’s first meeting was to define the group’s scope of work.
This meeting allowed group members to learn more about the technologies that are considered most important to reach climate goals by hearing from a range of participants. Group members shared experiences on policy measures and initiatives currently in place to promote effective decarbonisation of heavy-duty road freight.
Open discussion in focus groups informed the content of the group’s intermediate report and allowed participants to share their additional thoughts.
Agenda
Session 1
This session hosted presentations about the technological pathways needed to reach international climate objectives. The discussion touched upon differences in potential emissions reductions of technical solutions, their costs and their potential to be rapidly deployed.
• Matteo Craglia, ITF – Setting the scene
• Felipe Rodriguez, ICCT – Decarbonisation technologies for trucks
• Francisco Boshell, IRENA – The role of renewables in decarbonising road freight
Session 2
This session hosted presentations on policy and industry efforts to promote the accelerated uptake of low carbon vehicle technologies.
• Frank Smit, DG RTD – Transport decarbonisation in the European Union
• Cristiano Facanha, CALSTART – Drive to Zero Campaign
• Angie Farrag-Thibault, WEF – Road Freight Zero
Session 3
This session hosted small group discussions on strategies to accelerate the adoption of low carbon heavy duty road freight technologies.
Key insights and next steps
• Government participants wished to see a particular emphasis of the group’s discussions on technology pathways to reduce the carbon intensity of the road freight sector.
• Policy measures targeting shifting to alternative modes and avoiding heavy vehicle traffic were considered of lower priority for the group’s discussions.
• A number of participants expressed an interest in ‘transitional’ decarbonisation technologies, as well as defining how long the transition would take and the implications of multiple transitions.
• There was consensus that there need to be technologies that enable deep decarbonisation in the long term, beyond transitional phases. The discussion of the group will account for different technologies and rates of adoption for emerging vs. developed economies and will focus on how policy measures can facilitate their adoption. Participants expressed particular interest in understanding more on the technological uncertainty around the adoption of different vehicle decarbonisation technologies and how policy can navigate uncertainty and technology neutrality.