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Return home10.2. Decarbonising road freight
Transporting goods is likely to be the highest source of emissions for the public sector supply chain and may involve a third party separate to the supplier. Public bodies can tackle road freight through targeted procurement, and strategic planning in their local area.
Freight transportation of goods can sometimes be difficult to address, especially as the freight operator is often different to the supplier of the goods, making the haulage company further removed from the public body. In 2022, heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) and light goods vehicles (LGVs) together produced 37.8 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions – around a third of all UK domestic transport emissions. This shows that road freight is a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions, which is proving difficult to tackle. Emissions from HGVs and LGVs have remained at a similar level over the last twenty years, reaching a low of 33.2 million tonnes in 2009, and a high of 38.9 million tonnes in 2021 (data is available up until 2022).
The Local Authority Toolkit has a section on Decarbonising road freight, servicing and deliveries, and The Freight Portal provides advice to freight operators to achieve lower costs and lower emissions. Through procurement decisions, public bodies can reduce the amount of goods purchased (therefore amount of freight required), and place requirements for freight transportation in tenders and contracts. It is important to work with the sector, especially as many haulage companies can be small businesses operating within small margins.
In procurement contracts, public bodies must request transparency from their suppliers’ use of freight in order to accurately assess their emissions. The public body should have access to information and data about:
- where the products, including their component parts and materials, come from
- the amount of shipping and companies used
- what vehicles are used in transport
This will allow the public body to make informed decisions on which areas to target. Below we have included some examples of technologies or ideas which can help to reduce freight emissions. Public bodies should ensure future tenders include requirements to use innovative solutions to tackling freight emissions, such as these.
Public bodies can also tackle freight emissions, air pollution and congestion in their locality through local planning decisions, such as installing electric vehicle charging infrastructure, implementing low emission zones (LEZs), or modifying parking or access permits.
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Cargo bikes, e-cargo bikes, and zero-emission powered light vehicles (zePLVs) can provide last-mile delivery options, especially in urban areas, reducing emissions and congestion. For rural areas, small battery electric vans can provide a viable alternative to large diesel-powered vans. In both cases, freight consolidation centres would be a requirement to enable the collection of goods and consolidation into delivery areas.
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There are solutions available to decarbonise most road freight vehicles now, with the most prominent being battery electric vehicles. Hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles are still in development, and there is the possibility of low carbon fuels (though these are not zero-emission and should only be used as an interim solution).
For more information, see Adopt zero emission vehicles · Energy Saving Trust toolkits and Decarbonising road freight, servicing and deliveries: local authority toolkit – GOV.UK.
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Pricing can be used as a method to enforce a change in behaviour. For example, road pricing for last-mile deliveries, dependent on the time and place, can shift delivery times to more suitable, off-peak times to reduce congestion. Similarly, pricing can be used to disincentivise rapid delivery; slower delivery times allow for greater efficiencies and consolidation of goods.
