21 Nov 2022
Giro Zero, funded by UK Foreign, Common and Development Office UK PACT Programme, hosted the RoundTable Discussion - Paving Road to NetZero Logistics to improve understanding on NetZero and carbon neutral policy and practice with the UK and Colombia road freight transport sectors, a dynamic, engaging and highly interesting discussion opened our eyes to a new horizon of sustainable and carbon efficient logistics.
Professor Vasco Sanchez Rodrigues, Cardiff University Lead of Giro Zero, highlights how successful was the RoundTable Discuss by saying, “The event was a great success; the delegates exchanged innovative ideas on the challenges both countries have been facing in the journey towards NetZero logistics. The RoundTable panel identified similarities and differences between the logistics sectors and enabled for discussion by involving actors representing government and industry from both countries to learn from each other.”
The event started with an introduction on the outputs already generated by Giro Zero, including the KPI Dashboard and the Scenario Simulator developed to inform decision-making on the Colombian road freight transport sector’s roadmap to decarbonisation, as Andres Rey, Research Associate of Giro Zero working in Giro Zero as part of Cardiff University team, said “the attendees were informed about development of the KPI Dashboard and scenario simulator as part of the Giro Zero Toolbox, led by Dr Abouarghoub from Cardiff University, and that Giro Zero has the capabilities to support policy making and decision making as well as provide knowledge on the path to decarbonisation of road freight transportation in Colombia, and the potential to transfer knowledge to and from the UK.”
The event included the highly relevant contributions from Nidia Hernandez Jimenez - COLFECAR, Edgar Higuera - ANDI, Ximena Cantor - Departamento Nacional de Planeación, Karol Andrea Garcia Buitrago - FENALCO, Laura Franco - Renting Colombia SAS, Julian Duque - TDM and María Camila Páez Páez - Imperial College London, Giro Zero´s beneficiaries and strategic partners, and David Elvy - Department for Transport (DfT), United Kingdom, Daniel Parker-Klein and Ian Wainwright - CILT (UK), Philip Roe - Logistics UK, Brian Robinson from Zemo Partnership, Christopher de Saxe from University of Cambridge, Colin Smith - Energy Saving Trust, Dominic Schofield - MINT GREEN SUSTAINABILITY LTD, Sukky Choongh (she/her) - Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). The live discussion and debates we had today shed light to a RoadMap to NetZero 2050 for freight transport tailored to each UK and Colombia.
Ximena Cantor, Manager of Mobility and Urban Transport at the Colombia National Planning Department, emphasised that “to build policies, laws, strategies, roadmaps, it is important to link all actors”, which was exactly what this RoundTable event did.
Colin Smith, Certification Manager for Transport at Energy Saving Trust, described the event as “a great opportunity to discuss the challenges around freight decarbonisation, having the right people in the room is key. Bringing new players/actors in the future of logistics will be a must. This event will be one of the many to come. The end good is not a doubt, how to get there will require more discussions, better data and a will do it.”
This successful event has been the result of a huge effort among colleagues from Cardiff Business School and Universidad de los Andes - Colombia, we would to give special thanks to the organising committee of the RoundTable event - Daniel Parker-Klein, Vasco Sanchez Rodrigues, Emrah Demir, Andrés Felipe Rey Ladino, Ana Lucía Ricaurte, Camila Faride Cubillos J and Helen Whitfield.
Professor Emrah Demir, Principal Expert of Giro Zero, expressed his views on how success was the event “The RoundTable discussions have allowed us to understand the differences and similarities in policy and practice between countries and potential collaboration opportunities that we hope to investigate in the Giro Zero project”.
There will be many other opportunities to generate and transfer knowledge on logistics decarbonisation in future events organised by Giro Zero, as project is expanding his network of experts, and event like this RoundTable Panel is a building block for a tripartite collaboration among government, industry and applied researchers from both countries.