Australia’s peak trucking body is calling on the federal government to adopt three proven solutions to reducing the industry’s carbon emissions.
In response to today’s release of the 23,475-word Transport and Infrastructure Net Zero Roadmap and Action Plan, the Australian Trucking Association said the options below will reduce emissions by 35.1 million tonnes of carbon dioxide over 25 years.
1. Address the up-front capital cost of electrification or alternative fuel options by establishing a voucher scheme covering half the price gap between comparable alternative fuel and conventional models.
2. Offer production incentives and put in place a low carbon fuel standard to support the domestic production and use of enough renewable diesel to meet 5 per cent of Australia’s diesel needs before the end of the 2030s, as well as increasing the provision of EV charging and green hydrogen refuelling infrastructure.
3. Implement a regtech solution, targeted infrastructure investment and road access upgrades to support the use of high productivity and low emission vehicles. The funding could also be used to make the road network more resilient through flood proofing and the creation of alternative routes.
They were the same pathways the ATA put forward in its submission to the Productivity Commission’s report into investing in cheaper, cleaner energy and the net zero transformation.
“We are very pleased that the government’s transport roadmap recognises that increasing the uptake of high productivity freight vehicles between now and 2030 must be part of the net zero pathway for heavy vehicles,” said ATA CEO Mathew Munro.
“Australia leads the world in using advanced truck and trailer combinations, and the transport roadmap locks in a key part of our plan: increasing the use of Australia’s unique high productivity freight vehicles.
“In fact, the ATA’s emissions modelling shows that increasing the use of high productivity vehicles and allowing heavier zero emission trucks on more of the road network would reduce emissions by 13.3 million tonnes of carbon dioxide by 2050.”
To deliver this, Munro said the industry needs targeted infrastructure investment, road access upgrades and a regtech solution, the National Automated Access Scheme, to reduce road permit requirements.
“The ATA has previously called for incentives to produce low carbon fuel and policies to support business to use it,” Munro said.
“The government has delivered on the need for production incentives with its $1.1 billion Cleaner Fuels Program.
“The government should put in place a low carbon fuel standard to support businesses to purchase the low carbon fuels that will be produced in Australia.
Under the low carbon fuel standard, Munro said fuel suppliers would have to reduce the life cycle emissions intensity of the fuel they sold against declining benchmarks.
“They could meet their obligations by selling low carbon fuel or by deploying EV fast chargers or green hydrogen refuelling stations.
“Fuel suppliers would be able to spread the cost of meeting the standards across their whole customer base.”
Munro said the key barrier to the take up of electric trucks and other low carbon technologies was the up-front capital cost.
“That’s why we need a voucher scheme to cover half the price gap between comparable low carbon and conventional technologies. It should be available for the purchase of battery electric and fuel cell hydrogen electric vehicles, hybrid vehicles, power axles, ePTOs and vehicles with H2 combustion engines,” he said.
“Our low carbon fuel standard and voucher scheme proposals are Australian versions of successful programs that are running right now in California, the world’s fourth largest economy. We know they would work.”
In addition to the above recommendations, the ATA’s submission opposes increasing taxes and charges on Australia’s hard-working trucking businesses, Munro also stressed.
“It demolishes the myth that increasing charges on road freight would result in more freight being carried on rail.
“Previous work by the Productivity Commission has demonstrated that the split of freight between road and rail would not change much even if charges on road freight increased substantially.”
The federal government’s latest net zero roadmap announcement comes less than a week after its energy agency ARENA revealed a $12.3 million investment in a dedicated electric truck charging hub in Melbourne that’s due to open next year.