Climate champions cutting carbon out of commercial transport

Freight trucks contribute disproportionately to New Zealand’s – and the world’s – transport emissions profile.

Reducing trucking’s carbon footprint and overall environmental impact is something we all have the responsibility to do. However, the industry is still considered “hard to abate”, rife with challenges in the availability of charging infrastructure, range capability, cargo capacity limitations, upfront costs and overall technological readiness.

While these issues persist, we’ve seen great strides internationally and in New Zealand. Market forces are playing a larger role than ever as zero-emission vehicles become closer to reaching total-cost-of-ownership parity with traditional powertrains, particularly as diesel prices have skyrocketed in 2026. And fortunately, there’s a great deal of people in the industry with a genuine interest in improving its environmental sustainability, beyond just reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

Next week, attendees at our second Road Freight Decarbonisation Update will hear all about the sector’s progress towards net-zero from a range of businesses and organisations who are at the forefront of making that happen.

Linfox

Linfox’s GreenFox programme focuses on reducing net carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions to zero. Linfox achieved a 52.2% reduction in GHG emissions in less than a decade, and since 2016 they’ve continued to lower net emissions by 8% every year. Linfox has been an early adopter of new technologies, deploying electric trucks for the first time in 2021. An Australian-made OEM electric truck is soon to be joining their New Zealand fleet. Read more.

Electric Autobus

Electric Autobus wants to offer fast, bookable charging for electric trucks from its new service centre on Ascot Road, Māngere. The fast chargers, up to 480kw, could roughly halve the charge times from most roadside charging stations, and would be accompanied by rest facilities for drivers. Read more.

Hiringa Energy

Hiringa Energy produces green hydrogen and builds refuelling infrastructure along key freight routes in New Zealand. Hiringa’s Head of New Business, Ryan McDonald will be speaking about how green hydrogen presents an opportunity to displace diesel and cut emissions in heavy transport, even for more challenging freight tasks. Read more.

Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA)

EECA is a government/Crown agency dedicated to conserving energy and transitioning New Zealand to cleaner sources of it. EECA has a range of resources and funds available to commercial transport operators. Read more.

Tyrewise

Kiwis use about 6.5 million tyres every year, says Tyrewise, who are on a mission to collect and recycle 90% of them by 2030. Burning waste tyres or sending them to landfill poses serious environmental and public health hazards, while recovering for reuse helps to avoid emissions that would otherwise be emitted in the production of virgin materials. The collected tyres can be repurposed into a variety of products including roads, walkways, sports courts, playground surfaces, fuel and more. Read more.

GoBackload

Empty or partially loaded truck runs, often return trips from deliveries, needlessly increase CO2 emissions per unit of cargo moved. That’s where backloading comes in. Matching spare truck space with people who needs goods delivered affordably is a win-win for fuel efficiency and the climate, and that’s exactly what GoBackload does. Find out more.

Interested to learn more about the work of these companies and organisations?

Join us at the next Road Freight Decarbonisation Update on Friday, 2 October from 12pm online.

Transporting New Zealand will be launching our second edition of the Green Compact, which is our framework to achieving a net-zero road transport sector by 2050 through the adoption of fuel-saving driving techniques, more efficient vehicles and building the infrastructure to accommodate them, alternative fuels, and incentivising collective mobility.