The Freight Portal has been created by Energy Saving Trust in collaboration with the Department for Transport and Zemo Partnership.
The portal supports the UK Government’s Transport Decarbonisation Plan, published in July 2021 and previously the Department for Transport’s Road to Zero strategy by providing advice to freight operators and directing them towards a range of schemes to help achieve lower costs and emissions.
The Freight Portal supports the UK Government’s commitment to deliver a zero emission freight and logistics sector.
Road transport accounts for 91% of transport related CO2 emissions of which HGVs account for 15.9% or 19.5MtCO2 and CO2 emissions from HGVs have increased by 7% between 2012 and 2019. Road traffic accounted for 154 billion tonne kilometres (tkm) or 79% of UK domestic freight transport . From an air quality perspective HGVs account for 13% of nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions for road transport (BEIS, 2018).
The Government published it’s ambitious plan to decarbonise transport in July 2021. The Transport Decarbonisation Plan (TDP) – Decarbonising Transport A Better Greener Britain sets out in detail what government, business and society will do to deliver the significant reductions needed across all modes of transport, putting us on a pathway to achieving carbon budgets and net zero emissions across every single mode of transport by 2050.
The TDP was developed from the Decarbonising Transport – Setting the challenge workshops held with key stakeholders and builds upon the Road to Zero strategy published in July 2018.
A commitment to deliver a zero emission freight and logistics sector that includes phase out dates for non-zero emissions HGVs, demonstrations of zero emission HGV technology on UK roads and stimulating demand for zero emission trucks by financial and non-financial incentives. Along with commitments to maximise the benefits of sustainable low carbon fuels and setting out the role of hydrogen in a decarbonised transport system.
The major trade bodies such as Logistics UK (formerly the Freight Transport Association) and the Road Haulage Association (RHA), academia and industry supported the “setting the challenge” workshops that helped shape the TDP.
