Conclusions of the GiroZero Annual Symposium: "Progress, Future Perspectives and Strategies for the Road to Decarbonisation of Road Freight Transport".

The annual symposium of the GiroZero project: "Progress, Future Perspectives and Strategies for the Road to Decarbonisation of Automotive Freight Transport" was done on 6th February.  

This was the closing of the annual series of events and was preceded by the Academic Symposium: Innovative Strategies for Emissions Reduction in Road Freight Transportation on 1st February and the capacity building course on 2nd February.  

During the day, we explored the progress and results achieved by the project in recent years.With industry leaders, we discussed the next steps on the road to decarbonisation of Road Freight Transport in Colombia. 

The Director of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering of the Universidad de los Andes, Juan Pablo Bocarejo opened the event, with Professors Emrah Demir and Vasco Sanchez-Rodrigues from Cardiff University in the UK.  

The opening words were given by Tim Hemmings, Deputy Head of Mission of the British Embassy, who highlighted the commitment of this entity to continue supporting the decarbonisation of Road Freight Transport in Colombia.  

Afterwards, Gordon Wilmsmeier, director of the project, presented the most relevant results of the last year: the growth of the GiroZero network, which now has more than a thousand members, the progress in the technological pilots and validations and the consolidation of the analysis tools offered by the project on its website for the RFT industry and decision makers.  

The panels

In the first panel, moderated by Juan Pablo Bocarejo, the companies TDM, HDL Logística SAS and Expocafé shared their experiences with pilots and technological validations, tests that are executed in the framework of the GiroZero project to validate the emission reductions and performance of different types of vehicles and technologies. In addition, Karol García, Director of ANDI (Automotive Industry Chamber), presented aspects that the industry considers key for the implementation of a roadmap towards decarbonisation.  

The second panel, led by Vasco Sánchez-Rodrigues, discussed the factors that influence the pace of progress towards decarbonisation and the indicators to measure its progress, with Giovanna Cardona Camargo from the National Planning Department (DNP) and Jefferson Muñoz Mejía from CEMEX.  

To conclude, the panel on the roadmap to decarbonisation, led by Gordon Wilmsmeier, addressed the results and challenges of the decarbonisation of Road Freight Transport and the integration mechanisms of the public, private and academic sectors to reach the 2030 goal. Participants included Eduardo Enriquez Caicedo, Deputy Minister of Transport; Nidia Hernández Jiménez, President of COLFECAR; Lina María Londoño, clean transport leader of  Galletas Noel S.A.S company; Edgar Higuera, Manager of Logistics, Transport and Infrastructure of ANDI; and Nicolás Rincón Munar, Director of Infrastructure and Sustainable Energy from the DNP. 

These were some of the conclusions drawn from the event: 

1. Data and research-based decision making is one of the opportunities for partnerships between the public, private and academic sectors. This is important both for the roadmap towards the 2030 goals and for the roadmap towards the energy transition. 

2. A concrete roadmap needs to be drawn for the Road Freight Transport industry, which represents a very particular segment of the automotive market. 

3. Efforts must be joined and alliances between different actors must be done to make low and zero emission goals possible.  

4. Efficiency, safety, productivity and sustainability of the RFT sector can and should be worked together. The results of GiroZero have demonstrated this.  

5. Technological upgrading requires an economic effort of the actors involved and the improvement of institutional processes and regulations.

At the end of the event, recognition was given to those companies, organisations and entities that have committed to the road to zero emissions. 

Thank you for contributing to the decarbonisation of Automotive Freight Transport in Colombia! 

• Cemex 

• Solística 

• HDL Logística 

• Corona 

• TDM 

• Secretaría Distrital de Ambiente 

• Mintransporte 

• Departamento Nacional de Planeación 

• Expocafé 

• FENALCO 

• COLFECAR 

• ANDI 

• Cotranscol 

• Nutresa 

• Ambiente Y Soluciones S.A.S. 

• C&S Logistica transportadora 

• Coltanques 

• SAMSA Sas 

• Confipetrol Sas 

• Logística Repremundo Sas 

• Pavimentos Colombia S.A.S. 

• Pisotrans 

• Renting Colombia 

• Corporación De La Industria Aeronáutica Colombiana S.A 

• Datalog Colombia S.A.S 

• HV Services & Supply S.A.S 

• Instalaciones Hidráulicas Y Sanitarias W.C. S.A.S 

• JA Beltrán Reciclaje Ecológico Ambiental S En C

Some reactions from participants: