Call for urgent action over electric trucks

A new report from the Green Finance Institute (GFI) is calling for urgent action to electrify half a million heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) in the UK in order to meet net zero targets for transport.

Its report, Delivering net zero: unlocking public and private capital for zero emission trucks, focuses on unlocking the barriers to financing decarbonisation of the HGV sector and highlights perceived technology risks, higher costs and a lack of charging infrastructure as some of the barriers to decarbonising trucks.

It outlines 10 financial mechanisms that will support the decarbonisation of the freight sector and help the UK meet its net zero targets.

The UK’s HGV fleet accounts for just one per cent of all vehicles on the road but almost 20 per cent of total transport.

By installing infrastructure across the UK, including charge points in depots and across the road network, the country’s entire HGV fleet could be decarbonised, the report says.

Lauren Pamma, programme director at the Green Finance Institute, said:

There is a £100bn investment opportunity that we can unlock through innovative finance products, providing a massive opportunity to decarbonise the HGV sector before the government’s target of phasing out diesel trucks by 2040. Our report sets out some of the financing mechanisms that will help us roll out electric charging points and get more electric lorries on our roads to decarbonise the HGV sector. These include utilisation of linked finance and shared charging infrastructure agreements that will particularly help SMEs, which own half the UK’s HGV fleet but struggle to secure green financing and need additional support.

Chris Ashley, head of policy for environment and vehicles at the Road Haulage Association (RHA), welcomed the report.

With its clear illustration of the complexity and costs involved, ensuring the switch away from diesel is seamless while supporting our vital small businesses – the lifeblood of logistics – will be essential,

he said.

The GFI has provided a framework that allows industry to navigate and debate the investment conditions needed to deliver a sustainable net zero.

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