Decarbonisation Today Dramatically Reduces Future Challenges

by Dickon Posnett (Argent Energy/EWABA/EurActiv) Heavy duty vehicles (HDVs) is one of three ‘difficult to decarbonise’ transport sectors and must be addressed with urgency alongside aviation and marine. -- ... But policy makers must not forget, decarbonising HDVs needs support. As long as there are diesel engines on the road the industry can bring sustainable biodiesel to replace the fossil diesel.

Higher blends of renewable fuels are a decarbonisation option for several HDV segments that may find switching to battery electric vehicles or hydrogen (fuel cell) vehicles challenging in the near term. High blends of waste-based biodiesel significantly reduce emissions from vehicles with the heaviest payloads, often travelling long distances, and which are accountable for the highest proportion of GHG emissions in the HDV sector.

A 2021 study by Zemo Partnership showed that an average 30% blend of renewable fuels into fossil fuels in 2030, saves the transport sector in the UK an additional 46 million tonnes in well-to-wheel GHG emissions; 4% of all road transport GHG emissions. By 2050, this figure could rise to 140 million tonnes of additional cumulative GHG emission savings. The study covered three heavy-duty vehicle sectors: trucks, buses, and coaches. More importantly, the study found that the most significant GHG reductions were achieved when high biofuel renewable fuel blends were combined with electrification. Blends of 20% and 30% biodiesel (B20 and B30) are currently in use in HDV fleets around Europe that are committed to reducing GHG emissions. In the UK, one operator alone has been running their whole fleet for several years on a minimum of B20, supplied by Argent Energy, and has saved over 150,000 tonnes of GHG emissions.

Increasing the blend level of biodiesel to B20 instantly triples the GHG savings. Increasing to B30 more than quadruples the savings. What’s more, the European fuel standard EN 16709 is already in place and lays down the strict technical specifications for B20 and B30, making it simple for operators to check the fuel quality being supplied and therefore be assured of smooth change overs. Simple incentive measures are available to trigger wide uptake of high blends in HDV fleets. These could be non-fiscal and fiscal. For example, national governments could reform the fuel duty in accordance with the carbon and energy intensity of a fuel or offer a fuel duty rebate to fuel operators that use high blends. In this way, incentives could be tailored to ramp up the level in a country’s HDV fleet from B7 to B20, B30 and beyond. The use of high blends will also enable EU Member States to incentivise more sustainable biodiesel to be used in the fuel mix, allowing overall greater climate targets to be achieved.

A ramping up to high blends, even with the reduction in the use of diesel cars and small vans, will require a continued steady increase in the use of biodiesel overall in road transport, as diesel demand for the commercial HDV fleet will decline post-2030.

Biodiesel relying on waste lipids is the best decarbonising tool available now for the EU’s diesel vehicle sector and achieves the highest GHG savings under Annex V of the revised Renewable Energy Directive (REDII). By their nature, waste lipids are a limited resource. Studies into availability of waste feedstocks abound and continue to be commissioned, all producing varying answers. Whatever one concludes on this, the available waste lipids should be directed to where they can achieve the best results, or even better, allowed to be competed for fairly, on a level playing field, so the market forces can be permitted to function, driving down costs to consumers and driving efficiency up. READ MORE