Greenhouse gas emissions reduction from fuel switching in Heavy Duty Vehicles and its application in the international carbon market

Abstract

Heavy Duty Vehicles (HDVs) represent a quarter of CO2 emissions in the transport sector, due to their dependence on high-greenhouse gas emitting fossil fuels, such as diesel. This generates the emission of high levels of criteria pollutants as well as greenhouse gases (GHG), therefore it is important to seek and implement low-carbon technologies within the sector. Carbon offsetting projects focused on freight transport represent a great area of opportunity to decarbonize the sector. This work evaluates the fuel switch from diesel to compressed natural gas as a cost-effective solution to reduce GHGs emissions in the private road transport sector through the certification of it in the international carbon market. The avoided emissions from this action on a 2,857 HVDs fleet, was calculated though the AMS-III.S methodology from the Clean Development Mechanism. It was found that the total amount of GHG emissions were reduced by 7% in one year. With a certification through The Gold Standard, the total amount of money derived from the project activity carbon credits is of more than 240,000 euros. If the emissions reduction remains constant year by year, projections estimate a benefit of approximately 2 million euros in ten years due to carbon offsets.