Accelerating just energy transition in transport systems

• A clear policy landscape to enable long-term planning and investments.
• Knowledge elevation within authorities to make informed decisions.
• Capacity to modernize policies and regulations to match the transition ambitions and goals.
• Standards and coordination of plans.
• Continuous sector integration.
• Public procurement demands to push for fossil free alternatives and innovative solutions.
• Collaborative clusters with representatives from authorities, the private sector, research entities and civil society.

Four areas of energy transition in the transport sector

1) Deploying and shifting modes of transport

• Green transport planning involving authorities, employers, property owners, and others to decrease vehicle usage and increase public transport.
• Bike priority, including the creation of safe bike routes and the removal of car parking along streets.
• Urban growth agreements, aiming for zero growth in car traffic and prioritizing walking and cycling.
• A gender perspective on the choice of transport mode, recognizing that women tend to choose more sustainable modes.
• The use of strategic tools like the Nordic Urban Mobility 2050 Futures Game to create future mobility scenarios.
• Climate budgeting, where public organizations link fiscal budgets to yearly climate budgets to achieve emissions reductions.
• Reserved parking spaces in city centres for carsharing, and new building blocks incentivized to decrease parking and provide carsharing.
• Congestion/traffic charges for city centres.
• Last-mile solutions with bicycle transport for urban delivery and electric waste management vehicles for emission and noise reduction.
• Public engagement of communities in climate change mitigation activities.

A city is a social system, not a technical one. It is important to remember that in urban planning.

• Terminology and target setting should aim for a "transport-efficient society" and mitigate unnecessary transport.
• Lack of systematic benefit mapping of mobility solutions and integrated urban logistics hubs.
• Need of positive role models, incentives and effective marketing strategies to push behaviour change.
• Weather issues affecting non-motorized transport.
• Ensuring fair working conditions in services like bicycle delivery, by promoting collective agreements and employee influence.

• Foster inclusive dialogues and motivate behavior change to make transport accessible to everyone.
• Develop transit-oriented solutions to facilitate seamless access to public transport and shorter trips.
• Create inclusive policies which prioritize walking, cycling, public transport, and sharing solutions, guided by needs-based assessments.
• Incorporate emission-free passenger ferries in procurement processes (where geographically suitable), making them more economically competitive with bus traffic.
• Promote target-driven urban planning that discourages increased vehicle usage and incentivizes resource-efficient urban development. 

A lot of public funds goes into technology research – we need to make sure the solutions eventually also reach the wider public.
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Success in fair measures for mobility access could be for instance; how many people made it to the doctor's office, how many were on time for their job and how many students reached school instead of staying home due to expensive or complicated mobility solutions.

2) Energy and resource efficiency

• Clean Shipping Index for maritime supply chain actors with third-party verification.
• Gothenburg Port's "The Green Connection" initiative to reduce CO₂ emissions.
• Pilot projects for drones and delivery robots in zero-emission urban logistics.
• Fast-growing mobility companies like Voi, offering electric micromobility.
• Research projects studying off-peak deliveries and pooling for transport efficiency.
• Autonomous vehicle solutions for various applications.
• Recycling of batteries for electric vehicles, with Nordic countries leading in this field.
• Carpooling initiatives by municipalities and organizations, with low/zero emissions vehicles and public access on evenings/weekends.
• Digital coordination of sea vessels to port using Collaborative Decision Making (CDM).
• Reducing parking space near buildings by encouraging carpooling and public transport connections.
• Combining port and rail transport for more efficient cargo handling.
• Adding sails to sea vessels to reduce fuel consumption.
• Increasing the size of vehicles transporting materials in cities to reduce emissions.
• Implementing just-in-time principles at the harbor to save time, money, and emissions.
• Implementing Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) to provide a single platform for different sustainable transportation options.

• Overcoming barriers like trust issues, improving information sharing, dealing with income loss, knowledge gaps and attitudes.
• Data collection for tracking progress towards emission targets in the freight sector, especially on Scope 3 emissions, remains voluntary. Standardization is needed, including a baseline year for comparison.
• Standardized measurements and calculation templates are required to ensure accurate emissions calculations, especially during distributor changes.
• Larger car designs could risk encouraging broader road lanes and parking spaces, affecting efficiency.
• Heavy Cargo Transport (HCT) development can lead to more efficient but cheaper road transport compared to rail, requiring consideration of sustainability in value chains.
• Different digital systems for travels across regions pose challenges for bookings, payments etc.
• There is a need for better measurement of the success of transport and mobility – to promote more fair and equal access.
• Pilot tests should focus on human-centered solutions rather than purely technical aspects to ensure safety, comfort, and user-friendliness.

• Global directives can reduce competition and promote more eco-friendly practices, as seen in the International Maritime Organization (IMO) demanding better fuel efficiency for sea freight.
• Coordination of national policy instruments can enhance their effectiveness by preventing overlapping effects.
• Battery-driven catamarans for public transport are highly energy-efficient.
• Improved logistics can increase cargo filling and reduce emissions, especially in "last mile-transport."

Irrespectively of how great a technological progress is, it doesn’t guarantee a real impact if people and/or companies do not take it into use.

 3) Electrification of vehicles

• Electric vehicle incentives and introduction in Iceland, Norway, and Sweden.
• Knowledge of electric charging infrastructure for cars and boats in Norway.
• Maritime Cleantech, a world-leading cluster for clean maritime solutions with nearly 150 partners.
• Heavy Duty Vehicle (HDV) and non-road mobile machinery electrification in Finland.
• Electric aviation with companies like Heart Aerospace.
• Electric roads implementation, such as the Evolution Road pilot project in Lund, Sweden.
• Environmental zones in Nordic cities, restricting vehicles to electric options.
• Public procurement by traffic companies emphasizing social sustainability in value chains.
• The E18 Western corridor in Norway, focusing on holistic logistics infrastructure through intermunicipal cooperation.

Technical solutions to reduce fuel consumption, batteries, shore power and supportive sails have been very successful. Without incentives like the Climate Step and the NOX-fund it would have been challenging to manage the heavy investments and create a business case.

• Transition complexities when developing new infrastructure and value chains requires coordinated efforts from multiple stakeholders, involving property owners, authorities, electric companies, vehicle owners, and users.
• Adaptation of routines, permits and policies during the transition phase is essential, demanding improved communication across sectors and departments.
• Addressing new safety risks associated with electrified vehicles and considering drivers' working environments is crucial.
• Authorities need efficient decision processes, legislation around grids need to be modernized and energy companies plans need to be fine-tuned and flexible to avoid bottlenecks in the energy supply.
• Lack of investments and demand for high-power charging infrastructure, which is vital for electric vehicles.
• Policy makers need a better understanding of business model innovations to promote green transport and ensure sufficient energy and power supply.
• Uncoordinated deliveries and sub-optimization in logistics operations result in inefficiencies.
• The need for improved climate policies and tax systems to align with electrification targets and sustainable road transport.

• Bidirectional charging allows electric vehicles to support grid stability, especially with intermittent energy sources like solar and wind.
• Energy flexibility solutions, such as batteries and data-based grid optimization services, can alleviate energy supply constraints.
• Emerging business opportunities related to battery technology.
• Electrification of smaller ferries and airplanes, along with electric road systems, present cost-effective alternatives to conventional options.
• Electrification projects like the Electric Road Systems (ERS) show promising benefits, with the potential for significant expansion.
• Promoting shared infrastructure for logistics operations, urban consolidation centres, and parcel lockers can optimize transport and reduce costs.
• Regulatory measures, like mandating emissions-free maritime transportation and updating legislation, can advance sustainability in the maritime sector.
• Public procurement criteria should incentivize emerging technologies and encourage a systems-thinking approach.
• Integrating waterborne transportation into public transit systems can enhance sustainability.

In Norway public procurement has driven the electrification of ferries, eliminating the financial risk as the authority has been taking the additional cost of technology and investments in an early and immature market. Public tenders and procurement are very good tools to help implement new solutions.

4) Shifting to low- or zero-carbon fuels

• Fossil-Free Construction Sites through public procurement in Oslo (Norway).
• National Plan for Future Fuelling and Storage for water transport in an InterReg-project in Sweden.
• Marine transport transition to electro fuels like e-methanol in Örnsköldsvik, Sweden.
• Successful biofuels, biogas, and e-fuels initiatives in Sweden and Finland.
• Green Hydrogen production plant in Northern Norway, Varanger Kraft.
• Prominent research on Hydrogen production from aluminum waste and seawater by the University in Iceland.
• Nordic countries excel in integrating complex systems.
• Ongoing research on clean hydrogen derivatives, electric vehicles, electrified roads, and Mobility-as-a-Service.
• Integration of carbon capture and storage in zero-carbon fuel production.
• Incentives and policy instruments like Bonus Malus, Reduction VAT, Super Rebate Car, and Public Procurement.

• Knowledge gap amongst decision-makers of how to redesign their vision and targets for a transition to low- or zero-carbon fuels.
• Unclear rules and incentives plus frequent changes in political landscape and regulations slows down investments in biofuel production and other sustainable fuel sources.
• Cost of biofuels often higher than conventional fuels, leading to uncertainty for vehicle owners.
• Administrative complexity when applying for support mechanisms is challenging.
• Coordination of transition to various new fuels is required amongst stakeholders.
• Need for investments for essential scaling and industrializing of new fuel solutions.

An advantage of operating in the Nordics is that we have good potential in increasing production of both biogas and renewable diesel (HVO/RME).
We also have a fossil fuel free electricity production.