In April 2021, a report was released by the Sustainable Business Council (SBC) Freight Group setting out an ambitious but achievable 30-year pathway to progressively decarbonise New Zealand’s freight system.
The Low Carbon Freight Pathway report was launched at an event at Toll (now Team Global Express) Tamaki, in South Auckland, attended by the then Transport Minister Hon Michael Wood and industry leaders from the transport, freight and business sectors.
The SBC Freight Group at the time included leaders from nine New Zealand companies committed to low carbon freight – Countdown (Woolworths), Fonterra, Lyttelton Port Company, New Zealand Post, Port of Auckland, Swire Shipping, The Warehouse Group, TIL Logistics Group and Toll (Team Global Express).
Host of the event and member of SBC’s Freight Group, Executive General Manager Toll New Zealand, Jon Adams commented at the time –
“Every year we move around 280 million tonnes of freight across our transport system – through road, rail, coastal shipping, international shipping and air. That’s around 56 tonnes of freight per person in New Zealand. On current projections our freight volumes will increase by 33 percent well before 2050. If we do nothing, emissions will grow by over 37 percent by 2050. We need to act now.”
This work led on to the 2024 launch of the Enabling Mode Shift report (providing guidance on accelerating freight decarbonisation through mode shift) as well as and the development of SBC’s more recent Low Emissions Freight Certificate collaboration – a market-based mechanism designed to support investment in lower-emissions freight and help accelerate decarbonisation of the transport sector.