02 Apr 2024
The roadmap towards decarbonisation in Colombia requires the convergence of the public, private and academic sectors.
With this in mind, since 2021, GiroZero has developed tools, researched important data for informed decision making, generated spaces for conversation between sectors, conducted tests, accompanied companies seeking to transform their practices to reduce their environmental impact and published public policy recommendation documents.
In addition,now, we have a network of over 1000 members in more than 50 cities in Colombia and around the world.
The results have been exciting and our strategic allies tell us about it in this video in which prominent leaders of the Road Freight Transport (RFT) sector talk about the importance of the GiroZero project to transform the industry and build together a path to zero emissions:
1. GiroZero Research Network:
After our attendance at the 10th nternational workshop on sustainable road freight of the Centre for Sustainable Road Freight, we were invited to join the Network of Sustainable Road Freight Centres that currently stretches from the UK to South Africa, India and China. The Universidad de los Andes will join the Universidad Andrés Bello in Chile as the two leading institutions in the region. This network is the most prestigious academic network, with Cambridge, Westminster and Heriot Watt University leading the way in the UK.
We currently have a network of more than 30 companies, 9 public entities and more than 1000 members from 50 different cities.
2. Market research and new technologies:
- Updated the Zero and Low Emission Truck Catalogue.
- We published the report on the challenges of the zero emission freight infrastructure network.
3. Technology validations and pilots
- We carried out the first technological validation in Colombia with the collaboration of the Andrés Bello University and the TDM Company. The performance and emissions of a Euro V CNG vehicle and a Euro VI Diesel vehicle were compared and we will soon publish the results.
- In addition, together with the company Corona, we carried out a second technological validation that sought to test the effectiveness of an ecological valve that aims to reduce fuel consumption. The purpose of these tests is to evaluate the effectiveness of new technologies in reducing emissions.
- With the information gathered in the pilots during the three years of the project, we compared the results, which are shown in the following graphs:
Comparison of GiroZero pilots 2021 -2023, by company:
Comparison of GiroZero 2021- 2023 pilots, overall emissions ranking:
4. Supporting zero emission regulation and public policy:
- We publish the third in our series of four policy briefs: Public policy recommendations to renew the road freight vehicle fleet in Colombia. This document diagnoses Colombia's road freight vehicle renewal programme. GiroZero, proposes 11 points for future programmes which can be found in the full document available here.
- The National Planning Department (DNP) took into account our contributions in the evaluation of the fleet renewal programme and in the formulation of the National Development Plan 2022-2026, specifically in the public policies related to the energy transition in transport.
- The National Private Competitiveness Council published in its annual report a short section on the decarbonisation of road freight transport, suggesting the adoption of the roadmap proposed by GiroZero
5. Capacity building programme:
At the start of the project in 2021, the SmartDriver programme had a total of 100 drivers enrolled with a 20% certification rate. By the end of 2023 there were more than 1000,000 enrolled with a certification rate of 40%. These are the figures for our capacity building programme:
Thanks to the analyses and tools developed during the project, a new course was opened in the MSc in Supply Chain Management, called: Transport Management - Competitiveness and Sustainability taught by Professors Gordon Wilmsmeier and Carlos Hernandez. It will address management decisions in transport from the perspectives of competitiveness and sustainability; and will present the most important concepts, quantitative models (and methodologies) to carry out analyses to support these decisions.
6. GiroZero Toolbox:
Thanks to the knowledge and experience gained with the RNDC database of the Colombian Ministry of Transport, GiroZero proposed a strategy to decrease the number of empty containers to and from the main Colombian ports: Buenaventura and Cartagena, quantifying economically the impact of this approach. Can we reduce GHG emissions with logistics optimisation? The results were published in the Journal of Transport Geography.
Con los datos GPS compartidos por 24 empresas, hemos logrado datos de 3671 vehículos y hasta 28 meses de datos para medir:
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Fuel consumption
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CO2 emissions
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Identification of idling times
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Operating speed in the transport network
- Average speed
This has improved the decision-making processes regarding logistics optimisation, fleet management and fleet configuration of the companies that have participated.
The Environmental Freight Freight Transport Index (ERFTI) tool is already being used by companies such as Cemex to assess their sustainability practices in a number of areas, including innovation, resource use and emissions.
7. Towards the implementation of the Giro Zero roadmap
Different strategies have been implemented by transporters, truck owners and truck drivers in Colombia to reduce emissions in road freight transport, including selecting bigger and better trucks, renewing the fleet, increasing tonnes per trip, optimising the load capacity of trucks, and reducing the distance travelled through logistics planning. The emissions intensity indicator has been reduced from 75.7 to 68 gCO 2 /tonne-km since 2019.
Thanks to the improved databases developed during the GiroZero project, we can estimate that in the last four years (2019-2023), Colombia has managed to reduce emissions in freight transport from 6,637,475 tonCO 2 and in 2019 to 6,240,365 tonCO 2 e in 2023.