FRANCE — At the Rencontres Économiques d’Aix-en-Provence, an economic forum attended by many organizations from around the world, 11 international groups have announced they have joined forces to form an international coalition open to new members. AWS, Carrefour Group, CMA CGM Group, Cluster Maritime Français, Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank, Engie, Faurecia, Michelin, Schneider Electric, Total and Wärtsilä are the existing members.
Common goals for the energy transition in transport and logistics
The Coalition aims to accelerate the development of energy sources and technologies to address the challenges posed by sustainable mobility in the transport and logistics industry by reducing emissions, fighting global warming, and protecting biodiversity.
The 11 existing members are pooling their expertise in pursuit of three key goals to achieve genuine technological breakthroughs with tangible results by 2030:
- Unlock a more extensive portfolio of clean energy sources,
- Lower energy consumption per kilometer-equivalent of goods transported,
- Eliminate a substantial proportion of emissions linked to transport and logistics.
Nine concrete projects devised by the nine working groups already set up
Over the past few months, the Coalition has established nine working groups with several dozen participants to devise nine concrete projects that will help shape the energy sources of the future:
- Develop green hydrogen procurement solutions for the transport sector,
- Develop biofuels for the various modes of transport,
- Expand the use of biogas and synthetic gases in transport,
- Replace fossil fuels with green energy across the supply chain,
- Launch zero-emission vehicle pilot projects by the end of 2021,
- Create a digital door-to-door route planning system that calculates the option with the lowest environmental impact,
- Optimize the operational management and loading to step up the energy efficiency of each ton carried,
- Make multimodal platforms more environmentally friendly for logistics applications,
- Consolidate methods used to measure the impact of energy transition projects in transport and logistics.
The Coalition was launched in late 2019 during the French Maritime Economy Conference (Assises de l’Economie de la Mer) and has received the backing of French President Emmanuel Macron.
The Coalition’s initial findings will be officially presented in January 2021 at the IUCN World Conservation Congress.
Jean-Pascal TRICOIRE, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Schneider Electric, said: “At Schneider Electric, our commitment is to be the partner of our customers in their journeys toward sustainability and become carbon positive ourselves. We are proud to be part of the Coalition for the energy of the future, contributing to the energy transition in transportation and logistics thanks to our expertise in energy and automation digital solutions.”
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