For just more than two years 15 major Swedish players, including SCA Transforest, have been working together to make goods transports on Swedish roads climate neutral. The tough goal for this joint organisation, known as KNEG, is to cut the climate impact of the country’s road transports in half by the year 2020. Translated from Swedish, KNEG stands for Climate Neutral Goods Transports on Road.
Reducing the climate impact of transports is a serious challenge, not least of all due to the transport industry’s heavy dependence on fossil fuels. A number of advances have been made since the beginning of the 1990s – vehicles and motors are considerably more fuel efficient, transports are more effective and renewable fuels have reached the market. However, making the transition to carbon dioxide neutral transports demands additional, vigorous efforts. Broader collaboration on the part of transport sector stakeholders, the business community in general, society and research has been regarded for a long time as necessary to accelerate progress.
Swedish government support
KNEG has been working since the autumn of 2006 to realise the goal of Swedish goods carried by road genuinely becoming carbon dioxide neutral. This is a joint effort involving 15 major stakeholders; SCA Transforest together with other carriers, fuel and auto manufacturers, colleges, universities and trade organisation the Swedish Association of Road Haulage Companies.
The National Swedish Road
Administration assists with administration of the project which has a board of directors elected annually and consisting of 10 people plus a chair. All of the participating members must be active and the commitments made by the various stakeholders within the framework of the project are to be reported and followed-up. The collaboration in KNEG is also supported by the Swedish government, which is of the view that the united efforts of the business community and the public sector is the quickest way to deal with climate change.
Cut climate impact by half
The object of the project is todemonstrate how climate impact from freight transports by road can be reduced through a variety of measures and also show what the participating stakeholders can contribute. Central aspects of this work involve more
efficient transports, more efficient fuel production, more efficient vehicles and
more widespread use of renewable fuels.
KNEG members are hoping that through their collaboration they will be able to break the historical trend where more traffic unavoidably leads to higher emission levels. The reduction in the total emission of greenhouse gases from freight on roads is estimated to amount to 15 percent between 2005 and 2020, despite the anticipated increase in traffic. The goal is to halve the climate impact of a typical long distance Swedish haul during the same period.
Among different KNEG joint projects we can note route optimisation, higher capacity utilisation, intermodal solutions, heavier and longer vehicles, eco-driving, vehicle improvements, hybrid technologies, the phasing-out of older vehicles, renewable fuels and heightened energy efficiency.
Measuring progress
To be able to measure and ultimately benefit from the results in the longterm
the Centre for Environment and Sustainability (GMV), a network organisation at Chalmers University of Technology and University of Gothenburg, was engaged at the start of 2009 to develop four quantifiable indicators. Together, these indicators will form the basis for a climate index measured in terms of the reduction in tonnes of CO2 emitted. The four underlying indicators are to measure more efficient transports, more efficient vehicles, alternative fuels and more efficient fuel production. The aim is that the results of the measurements are to be presented regularly and set in relation to the project goal.
Text: Carl Johard
Photo: SCA and morguefile.com
Source: New Ways 1/209