Big brand names like The Warehouse and Countdown have pledged to change the way they freight goods in a bid to decarbonise the freight industry in the next 30 years.
Nine companies are leading the charge as members of the Sustainable Business Councils freight group, which on Friday launched a graduated transition plan for the industry.
Both The Warehouse and Toll NZ are introducing lighter electric trucks for urban deliveries and exploring hydrogen fuel for longer-haul trips.
Meanwhile, supermarket chain Countdown was being smarter about its loads and moving more freight outside peak hours, although it said there was a long road ahead to fully decarbonise.
READ MORE:* Big businesses under growing pressure to cut their environmental impact* Person of the Year 2020 nominee: Andrew Clennett paves a greener road* Zero-emission hydrogen heavy trucks to hit Kiwi roads* Ports of Auckland plans hydrogen fuel plant to power forklifts and cars
As a business that moves products up and down the country on a daily basis, reducing our freight emissions is a huge part of our work, Charlotte Haycock, Countdown senior adviser on sustainability and government, said.
The pathway that the freight group has developed is ambitious, but also really exciting.
Global Bus Ventures is building electronic and hydrogen-powered buses and wants to supply them for Canterbury’s public transport network.
Toll NZ executive general manager Jon Adams said the launch of the low carbon freight plan was a call to arms for others to commit to a carbon neutral freight industry by 2050
This was becoming more urgent as the countrys freight volumes took off.
On current projections our freight volumes will increase by 33 per cent well before 2050. If we do nothing, emissions will grow by over 37 per cent by 2050. We need to act now.
The seven other companies taking a stand are Fonterra, Lyttelton Port Company, New Zealand Post, Ports of Auckland, Swire Shipping, The Warehouse Group, and TIL Logistics Group.
Freights carbon emissions are expected to rise by 37 per cent over the next 30 years if nothing is done.
Transport makes up about 17 per cent of New Zealands total carbon emissions, of which freight accounts for third, with 820,000 vehicles on the road, as well as rail, ships and planes.
Change would be costly, the report said, with companies facing much higher capital costs for vehicles and higher operational costs, depending which green energy source they move to.
At the same time, fleet owners were loathe to retire conventional trucks with another 20 to 25 years of life too early.
Key strategies would be replacing fossil fuels with biofuels, better efficiency and replacing older vehicles with zero carbon ones when they were retired.
Hydrogen, biofuels and electric batteries for lighter vehicles are all expected to play a part.
David Benattar, The Warehouse Group chief sustainability officer, said that as a leading retailer, the company felt a responsibility towards the way we move goods from our suppliers to our stores and to our customers.
Freight company TIL Logistics is trialling hydrogen trucks with fuel retailer Waitomo supplying the fuel, as part of a plan to help the trucking industry switch to new fuels, led by clean tech firm Hiringa Energy.
Over the next two years it was phasing out all its LPG forklifts and working towards moving to fully electrifying its light commercial fleet.
Toll is also phasing in a fleet of Fuso electric light trucks to service metro Auckland and later Wellington, as well as pledging a third of its capital investment to sustainable vehicles.
Hydrogen was probably the best fuel for long-haul transport but Adams estimated it was five to 10 years away from being widely available so biofuels would have to fill the gap.
We believe hydrogen with the right investment will be the right long-term solution and weve put ourselves forward to make sure were trialling in that space as well.
But it is still early days and our calculations, as well as those of the industry, highlight if we do nothing now but wait for hydrogen, were not going to make our targets.
Adams said Toll had previously done things to cut down on carbon but Friday was the first time it had pledged to loftier industry goals.
A hydrogen pumping station for hydrogen-powered cars in Germany. The fuel is well suited to long-haul freight but Toll estimates its widespread use in New Zealand is 5 to 10 years away.
Were going to deliver that … through fuels, but also making sure that were supporting the drive to switch to different modes and, critically, to try find a different way to collaborate better as an industry, to find ways to take more trucks off the road. Because at the end of the day thats what its all about.
The next step for the plan was to bring more freight companies and partners on board.
As more businesses begin the transition, the cost of decarbonisation will fall as we achieve economies of scale, Adams said.