Renere teknologi i transportsektoren

Summary

This report has as the object to analyse the processes and the results of the cleaner technology projects on transportation of goods in order to document the results from the present efforts; but also to gain experiences to the benefit of the future product oriented environmental efforts. The report has been made based on studies of the literature as well as interviews of relevant companies and consultants. In addition we have found it desirable to supplement the survey with the experiences from cleaner technology projects aimed at passenger transport. The content and conclusions of the report are summarised in brief below.

Presenting the problems

Goods and freight are mainly transported by ship, train or lorry. One of the major environmental problems connected with transport is the emission of CO₂, where transport by sea and railroad has an advantage compared to transport by lorry. However, the domestic goods transportation in Denmark takes place with lorries as the preferred means of transport as this is flexible, and usually cheaper for the company.

Perspectives

Several on-going initiatives deal with the transportation of goods. They aim at the reduction of the environmental impacts from the sector; an example is manuals of environmental management for both buyers and sellers of transport. At the end of 1998 the Danish EPA appointed a product panel dealing with transportation of goods. This panel is one of three product panels, and it aims at implementing a number of activities that are meant to support transport with less environmental impacts. Therefore, in future it can be expected that companies with external transport, contractors and producers of means of transport will focus more on transport in a life cycle perspective. It will be carried out in the co-operation with trade organisations such as DSB-gods, Danmarks Rederiforening, Dansk Transport og Logistik.

The cleaner technology projects concerning the goods transportation form part of the present environmental effort in this area. A little over two million Danish kroner have been granted to five cleaner technology projects concerning goods transportation in the period 1993-97. The projects are as follows:

• Eco labelling and transportation
• Environmental advantages of coaster transport compared to overland transport
• The environmental effects of shifting transportation of goods from land to sea
• Mapping of the air pollution of marine engines with the objective of developing more environmentally desirable engines
• The development of tools to assess the choice of ferry types in a life cycle perspective.

Projects concerning passenger transport

Relatively few cleaner technology projects have been accomplished dealing with goods transportation. In order to be able to give recommendations to the future product-oriented cleaner technology projects we have supplemented the survey with the accomplished cleaner technology projects dealing with passenger transport in the period 1993-97.

Six relevant projects with a budget of a little over 2.8 million Danish kroner have been carried out:

• Development of an environmentally desirable oil burner for busses etc.
• Life cycle assessment of cars (a preliminary project)
• Environmental consideration of the purchase, running, maintenance and disposal of cars (a main project)
• Life cycle assessment of a bus (a preliminary project)
• Environmental improvement of a bus (a main project)
• Development and testing of a prototype of a solar hybrid car.

Environmental understanding as a result of the projects

Environmental understanding - an important output

The projects concerning goods transportation have created knowledge that focuses on the connection between environment and transport of goods. This has contributed to a more comprehensive environmental understanding in the area. However, there are limits to how firmly anchored this environmental understanding has become in the companies that have taken part in the projects. Only in the project "Mapping of the air pollution of marine engines…." has the company been more than a supplier of data. At the same time this is the only project where there has been co-operation as such with parties others than company and consultant. In the case of the other projects the results and the subsequent environmental understanding have solely been diffused through the final report.

There are more examples of how environmental understanding has been anchored in the companies in the projects dealing with passenger transport. In the majority of cases the environmental activities of the companies are in focus, and the companies have been responsible for most of the projects.

The perception of the course of the projects

Too little and too quick involvement of companies

Generally, both the companies and the consultants perceive the course of the projects about transportation of goods as positive. The most important barriers for the companies were that they were involved too little and too quickly, and a few consultants emphasise that it is a long process to change the environmental understanding of transport in the companies.

Companies active in passenger transport

There have not been similar barriers in the projects about passenger transport. This may be due to the fact that in most of the projects the participants had already co-operated for a long period before the projects began.

The product-oriented environmental effort

Limited product focus in transportation projects

The product-oriented effort is limited in the projects concerning goods transportation. Yet the project "Mapping of the air pollution of marine engines….." has resulted in more environmentally desirable engines for ferries. Furthermore, the project "The environmental effects of the transfer of goods transport from land to sea" has focused on how the companies can optimise their transport environmentally by choosing other routes and means of transport.

None of the projects focused on how the transport company can create more environmentally desirable services. Furthermore, no projects have made guidelines for more environmentally desirable purchase of transport services and to the use of more environmental-friendly means for transportation of goods.

More product efforts in passenger transport

For passenger transport there has been a larger focus on the product oriented environmental effort. In general the projects can be divided into three types:

• A preliminary and a main project have had the focus on life cycle assessment using a detailed method on busses.
• A preliminary and a main project have also focused on life cycle assessment using rough calculation, experience and relevant literature, in order to give recommendations about public procurement of cars.
• Two projects have looked at immediate sources of the environmental problems originating from an existing product, and are developing a cleaner product – a solar hybrid car and an oil burner.

In the former projects the involvement of the companies is not stable as the product went out of production during the long process it may be to accomplish a detailed life cycle assessment. Yet the project did result in a number of proposals for environmental improvements of a bus, which the company and the consultant have made in common. With a view to the future product-oriented environmental effort then the other projects are examples of how "common sense" and life cycle-based overviews can be the point of departure for the development of cleaner products or for environmental-friendly procurement. Therefore, the projects on passenger transport have methodically covered a more comprehensive approach to cleaner products from "common sense" to detailed life cycle assessments.

Recommendations

On the basis of the conclusions of this report the following recommendations can be given to the further environmental activities concerning goods transportation:

• Ensure that the environmental activities of the companies are in the centre of the product-oriented environmental effort, and let this be the basis of a wide involvement of relevant actors in the trade, including both transport buyers, contractors, and producers of transport means.
• Support the companies’ work with analysing the environmental impacts of transport, as in general neither green accounts, environmental management nor life cycle assessment have given rise to an increased priority of environmental effects of transport in the environmental activities of the companies.
• Base the work on products that are expected to stay in production for a long time and that are representative of a product family, so that the results can be used widely in the trade, this includes sharing of experiences between the transport of passengers and of goods.
• Insist on balance in the product-oriented environmental programme, thus in future both common sense and qualitative screenings on equal terms with detailed life cycle assessments are taken into consideration. It is necessary in each single case to look at the objective of the assessment and at the preconditions of the company when choosing the specific methods.