17 Nov 2021
Por: Gordon Wilmsmeier
Director Giro Zero
In both cities and remote areas of Colombia, goods arrive in trucks: food, supplies, raw materials, etc., which mobilize approximately 97% of the products.
In March 2021, our multidisciplinary team of researchers from the University of Los Andes and Cardiff University in the United Kingdom began the Giro Zero Project “Steering the Colombian Road Freight Sector Towards a Zero Emissions Strategy”, which is funded by Colombia UK-Pact, a flagship program of technical assistance under the Alliance for Sustainable Growth between the United Kingdom and Colombia.
The project intends to drive the reduction of emissions fromRoad Freight Transport through strategies such as truck renewal, as well as the adoption of low-emission technologies and better environmental practices within the trucking sector in Colombia. It involves research on the feasibility of the adoption of alternative technologies and other green practices within the Colombian Road Freight Transport sector.
In Colombia, transportation represents 12% of total GHG emissions, of which trucks and buses generate 6% of emissions; of these, 10% is generated by light trucks and 37% by heavy trucks and buses, according to data from the Ministry of the Environment, the National Planning Department and Ideam.
To fulfil our objective, one of the first tasks has been to identify and learn about the programs, initiatives and best practices in the world, especially in voluntary adhesion programs in the United Kingdom and Latin America, which work on the decarbonization of the transport sector.
As a result of this research work, we have identified that the actions undertaken by other countries are oriented in four strategic dimensions that today, through the Giro Zero project, we bring to Colombia to learn from them, adapt them to the local context and share them with all actors in the transport sector, both private and public, to strengthen their knowledge and capabilities.
The first dimension is fleet management, which aims, among other aspects, to analyse and monitor the performance (time, fuel consumption, etc.) of vehicles along routes in real time. The largest transportation companies in Colombia already know the advantages of fleet management, but most of the small companies are still unaware of them, so we find in this dimension an opportunity to close this gap.
The second dimension is logistics optimization. This is based on the operational and technological integration of load generators, transfer and delivery points. Through this, the knowledge between the different links in the supply chain is improved, generating significant savings for companies.
The third dimension is fleet configuration and has to do with the characteristics and size of the truck fleet (number and type of vehicles), aerodynamic modifications, or replacement of parts to make it cleaner. Some of the benefits of this dimension for companies are to help maximize vehicle utilization, improve vehicle efficiency, and reduce costs and improve profitability.
Finally, eco-efficient and safe driving consists of training drivers towards best practices, to produce positive economic, social and environmental effects. There is a direct correlation between safe driving and greenhouse gas emissions. Safety prevents accidents, and savings of up to 30% in fuel costs can be achieved, resulting in lower greenhouse gas emissions.
By putting these strategic dimensions into practice, we seek to contribute to global emission reduction goals and contribute to mitigating the effects of climate change. The goal set by the Paris Agreement is to limit the temperature increase to below 2˚C , and it even proposes limiting the increase to 1.5˚C. For its part, Colombia faces the challenge of reducing 51% of its GHG emissions by 2030, for which the Road Freight Transport sector can make an important contribution to achieving this goal.