Member States adopt the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Estimation Model
On Tuesday 9th March 2021, the Northern and Central Corridor Authorities and Stakeholders from the respective Member States held a virtual validation workshop for the report on a model for the estimation Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions for the Northern and Central Corridors. The model developed with support from TradeMark East Africa (TMEA) will support the Corridors’ Transport Observatories to regularly report on performances related to GHG emissions as well as help identify possible reduction/mitigation potentials in climate change projects in the two Corridors.
Speaking during the virtual event, TMEA’s Chief Technical Officer, Ms Allen Asiimwe, said the model would be vital in addressing issues of climate change in the region.
“With the region having started to trade under AfCFTA in January 2020 and the trade volumes projected to rise, GHG emissions are also expected to increase. “The model is, therefore, an opportunity to establish baselines for member countries in the region on transport-related emissions,” she said.
The Central and Northern Corridors aim to reduce GHG emissions by 20% and 15% respectively, considering 2020 and 2021 as the baselines.
UNCTAD Chief of Trade Logistics Branch, Ms Frida Youssef, in her remarks, agreed that the model would help in defining a strategy to shift to sustainability patterns in the economic, environmental and social patterns.
Mr Omae Nyarandi, the Northern Corridor Secretariat Executive Secretary, revealed that the ‘Green Freight Program’ along the Northern Corridor was developed in 2016 to minimise health, safety and environmental impacts of freight movement with support from UNCTAD and TMEA.
“The program seeks to raise awareness on pollutant impacts and mitigation strategies; advocate for more sustainable freight transport systems and modes; and streamline transport activities through routes optimisation, loads consolidation, and reducing empty trips,” he said.
“The Northern Corridor Secretariat prepared a baseline for the port of Mombasa in 2017 and that of the corridor in 2018,” he added.
Mr Omae Nyarandi called for continued collaboration between the Member States of the Northern and Central Corridors to ensure all activities agreed upon in the validation exercise are implemented.
Capt. Dieudonné Dukundane, the Executive Secretary Central Corridor, remarked that green logistics and sustainable freight are a reality and called on the corridors to engage development partners, the private sector, governments and decision-makers in the implementation of the said recommendations.
TMEA’s Ms Asiimwe revealed that over USD 200 million had been set aside to support regional governments and the private sector in the region to acquire new technology to support the Green Freight Programme. She urged that climate change discussions make to the centre of regional governments’ cabinet discussions.
In developing the tool to estimate GHG emissions along the corridors, the study employed energy-based and activity-based methodologies. It considered fuel consumption and work done by factoring the different truck categories, routes representing different countries, vehicle make, gross weight of the categories of trucks, fuel consumption when loaded and on empty trips, the average age of the vehicle, its average speed, and type of load. For quality check, the survey’s outcome- fuel efficiency of the trucks was compared with figures from similar studies in the region.
From the findings presented, GHG emissions of the Northern Corridor are 1.72 MMtCO₂e (million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent) while that of the Central Corridor is 1.24 MMtCO₂e. In the Northern Corridor, the GHG intensity for onward journeys was 1.0 MMtCO₂e while that of the return journey when loaded was 0.30 MMtCO₂e, and empty return trips at 0.42 MMtCO₂e. Onward journeys in the Central Corridor contributed 0.73 MMtCO₂e while the loaded return journeys contributed 0.22 MMtCO₂e and empty return journeys 0.29 MMtCO₂e emissions.
GHG intensities in both corridors show that empty return trips contributed more GHG emissions compared to loaded return trips. In both corridors, exports make only 14% of the total trade resulting in a higher proportion of empty return trips, with nearly 30% of trucks loaded and 70% returning empty.
The study identified Mombasa-Nairobi, Mombasa-Busia, Mombasa-Malaba, Nairobi-Busia, Busitema-Kampala, Mbale-Goli, Mbale- Elegu, Luwero-Elegu, Luwero-Goli and Mubende- Kasindi routes in Kenya and Uganda as the most GHG intensive constituting 95% of total GHG emissions of the Northern Corridor. In the Central Corridor, Dar es Salaam to Goma, Dar es Salaam to Kigali and Dar es Salaam to Bujumbura routes contributed 98% of GHG emissions.
The Study report recommended reducing GHG emissions by 20% by 2030, considering 2020 as the baseline in the Central Corridor and reducing by 15% by 2030 considering 2021 as the baseline in the Northern Corridor. It argues that reducing GHG emissions for the corridor routes would translate to GHG emission reductions in the individual member countries’ transport sector.
Both corridors and truck operators traversing through them ought to reduce empty return trips through route optimisation, reverse logistics for efficiency and cost-effectiveness and implement a truck aggregator model.
The study also emphasises capacity building for truck drivers on eco-driving practices, shifting focus to fuel-efficient vehicles and implementing vehicle efficiency improvement projects.