An innovative project aligned with ‘NETZERO by 40’, adopted by the Coca-Cola HBC Group in 2021, to achieve net zero emissions throughout the value chain by 2040
Milan, London 19 May 2022 – Coca-Cola HBC Italia (CCHBC), the leading bottling company for The Coca-Cola Company in Italy, has announced the creation of a consortium made up of its main haulers Italtrans, Number1, Casilli Enterprise, and Favaro Servizi, London-based energy transition adviser Ikigai Capital (IKIGAI) and green energy development company NVA, to decarbonize its road transport operations as part of their 2040 net zero objectives.
Whilst the final objective is to create a net zero transport procurement, investment, and implementation project for vehicles, fuels, and related infrastructure, the first phase of the project will entail a feasibility study to understand the dynamics of road transport for CCHBC and to create net zero-aligned alternative solutions including the upstream and downstream infrastructure ecosystem necessary to decarbonize such a hard to abate area for CCHBC.
Ikigai will, together with NVA, deliver a pilot project in the next phases that will include the creation of multi-fuel hubs for the supply of green fuels (including electricity, biomethane, and hydrogen) and create the ecosystem for the supply of zero emissions/low carbon vehicles. Stakeholder engagement is key given the number of challenges to decarbonize the road transport sector. All parties involved (demand, supply, technology providers, funders, and government entities) will need to work jointly to create a critical mass on the demand side, the appropriate technical solutions as well as the financial support and incentives to deliver the energy transition.
Manuel Biella, Director of Italian Supply Chain, said “We recognize the enormous challenges to achieve net zero emissions in the road transport sector, but we also know that the change is needed now, and we want to be leading the way. That’s why Coca-Cola HBC Italia is committed to supporting this project and our haulers in their decarbonization journey and investing resources to lead the way and become an example for a sustainable logistics sector”
Roberto Castiglioni, Co-founder and CEO of Ikigai Capital, said “We don’t believe there is a silver bullet to decarbonize the transport sector; we believe we need a silver bucket, different solutions for different applications. That’s why we believe multi-fuel hubs are the answer and we are eager to export our ideas to Italy with such a forward-thinking client like CCHBC. It’s all about understanding the real-life challenges through data analysis, having a holistic and technology-agnostic approach, while delivering value to all of the project stakeholders”.
Heavy-duty road transport is one of the so-called ‘hard to abate sectors’. Carbon offsetting is under growing scrutiny as it should be only used as a last resort to offset those areas that cannot be decarbonized. Other challenges that are making this sector one of the hardest to decarbonize include vehicle and fuel availability and cost but equally and downstream infrastructure network to support the refueling of vehicles.
