| TLDR: Summary of this week’s Transport Day announcements from the U.N. Climate Summit in Glasgow, Scotland (shipping, aviation and ZEVs, oh my!), and a nice, long list of all the acronyms in this article: COP. NDCs. GHG. LNG. CO2. WMBC. COP again. WEF. SAF. FAA. ICAO. ZEV. BNEF. USDA. NZC (probably the most important of the lot). OK, think you’ve got it? No need to read on. |
| COP Transport Day Whether you think it’s pure political theater, global ecosystem salvation or (more likely) somewhere in between, the U.N. Climate of the Parties (COP) 26 in Glasgow these past two weeks provided a lot of information to digest. Putting aside macro discussions around Article 6, updated nationally determined contributions (NDC), and a variety of new and improved pledges and commitments, we’ll instead focus on transportation, which was the theme of Wednesday’s sessions. Here’s the table setting from the conference hosts on why transportation was called out: “Transportation is one of the largest sources of GHG emissions worldwide — with 14 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions sourced from vehicles. Almost all of the energy consumed in transportation is sourced from petroleum-based fuels. A key focus of COP26’s Transport Day is to ‘build consensus on the pace of transition to zero-emission vehicles’ as needed to achieve the goals set out in the Paris Agreement. Within this broader mandate, major players such as the United States, the European Union, and the United Kingdom are hosting a series of more focused side events.” OK, let’s break down the big announcements. Buckle up, we’re in for A. LOT. of acronyms. And for good measure, we’ll split up the headlines by mode. Well, just ocean, air, and road freight. For some reason, they focused less on rail & cycling which…seems odd when we’re trying to decarbonize things. |
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| Photo Credit: Jim Allen/FreightWaves |
| MARITIME – The Clydebank Declaration was signed by 22 countries to boost green shipping by developing at least six green corridors between two or more ports by 2025 and many more by 2030. Partnerships among ports, operators and other stakeholders voluntarily commit to reducing life cycle emissions of shipping by switching to alternative fuels. Since electrifying long haul anything is tough and liquefied natural gas is fossil-based, that leaves green methanol, liquid hydrogen and ammonia as the front-runners to tackle emissions from shipping, which account for 2.5%-3% of global CO2 emitted. – The We Mean Business Coalition (WMBC) hosted “Getting to Zero Emissions for Shipping,” a public-private dialogue to commit industry players to scale and commercialize net-zero vessels and fuels. – International Maritime Organization, the U.N.-appointed regulator of the maritime industry, was VERY ACTIVE in promoting opportunities toward its goal of zero-emissions shipping by 2050. As big as it was, COP may have just been a warm-up to their annual Marine Environmental Protection Committee meetings next week. These announcements are significant because they promise additional policy support from many of the largest port owners and operators and aligned interest among historical trade partners and their customers. Expect plenty of counterparty crossover from other groups hoping to signal increased demand for low carbon materials and services, like the First Movers Coalition, which is led by World Economic Forum (WEF), and John Kerry, U.S. special presidential envoy for climate. |
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| Photo Credit: Flickr/Colin Cooke CC BY 2.0 |
| AVIATION – The U.S. released its Aviation Climate Action Plan, committing to net-zero aviation by 2050. It’s 40 pages long and lays out proposed actions on technology development, operational improvements, sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), and domestic/international policy cooperation between the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). Oh, and probably carbon offsets under CORSIA, too. The plan is summarized best as heavy on aspirations and light on details. – The U.K. hosted an event titled “Delivering Jet Zero,” also a SAF road map, but with a much cooler name. It sounds like an unbelievably cool jet destined to get James Bond out of a jam instead of a policy outline. – The WMBC was active in the air as well as the ocean, hosting a session titled “Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF): From Ambition to Action,” in which it identified the next steps to push the adoption of SAF to 10% by 2030. I’m again glad to see collaboration between policymakers and corporate stakeholders. But the challenge in decarbonizing aviation is a bigger lift than in most other modes. SAF is being produced today at a clip of roughly 10 million gallons per year and prices at multiples of traditional jet fuel. The total market for jet fuel is in the tens of billions of gallons so … hopefully, we can figure this out sooner than later. Especially since aviation contributes approximately 2.5% of total global GHG emissions. |
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| Photo Credit: Jim Allen/FreightWaves |
| ROAD – Signatories constituting over 30 countries, six automotive manufacturers and many other interested parties (city/state/regional governments, fleet operators, corporates, financial institutions, etc.) declared an intention to sell 100% zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) by 2040 — and by 2035 in leading markets. This is a notable group of parties, but more so because of who is missing. The U.S., China, and Germany were not a part of the group. And while Volvo, Ford, and GM penned their intentions, the top two global automakers (Volkswagen and Toyota) abstained. – According to a Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) report released this week, 32% of the global automotive market is now covered by commitments to end sales of fossil fuel-powered vehicles. – The lines are being drawn, investments are being announced, but when do we expect the real tipping point to occur in decarbonizing transport? If these announced pledges are delivered upon, it will come sooner than anybody anticipated. The fact that there is widespread global demand for new solutions makes me both anxious and excited. While this week has been all about debate and negotiation, give and take, promises and failures, it’s undeniable that change is coming. I’m hopeful each time we get a new commitment because it reminds me that there is a commonality in us all, a hope for a brighter tomorrow. |
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| Photo Credit: Wikipedia |
| Honey, I’m home? TIL that the small honeybee has an outsize impact on the global food supply chain. And the fact of the day is that California’s almond crop alone employs an estimated 1.5 million honeybee colonies each year! They are trucked in from all over the country, primarily the Great Plains. The average colony is estimated to have traveled over 1,000 miles per year between seasonal work pollinating crops and producing honey. Interested in learning more about the impact of honeybees on our food system? Check out these resources: – Honey Bees on the Move (USDA Report)Morgan Stanley – At Scale Sustainability Podcast: The Honeybee Effect |
| Have friends that are equally concerned and interested in sustainable supply chains? Please share this link to keep them informed: https://freightwaves.com/NZC Until next week, stay curious and keep improving. Cheers, Tyler @tyleracole P.S. If you received this as a forward and want more, don’t print it out. Save a tree and subscribe instead to stay up to date: https://freightwaves.com/NZC P.P.S. I know, I know. That’s all happening OVER THERE. What should we do OVER HERE stateside? Don’t worry, next week we’ll parse through the sustainability implications for U.S. freight markets based on the recently passed Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. |
