NCTTCA in Partnership with UNEP on Five year (2017-2021) Green Freight Programme

In partnership with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the Northern Corridor Transit and Transport Coordination Authority (NCTTCA) is undertaking its five year (2017-2021) Green Freight Programme which is aimed at supporting a number of initiatives intended to reducing fuel consumption and carbon emissions in the Northern Corridor Member States.

The Green Freight Programme is a launching pad of a phased implementation of a holistic Sustainable Freight Transport Strategy which entails, in particular, sustainable transport policies, planning strategies and investment decisions that effectively balance the economic, environmental and social objectives.

The Sustainable Freight Transport Strategy which will be developed by the Northern Corridor is expected to be the ultimate outcome of the Capacity building workshop organized in Nairobi, Kenya, by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), in cooperation with the Northern Corridor Transit and Transport Coordination Authority (NCTTCA).

The aim of the five day Workshop was to strengthen the capacity of policy makers (in transport, infrastructure and finance), transport operators (in rail, road, internal waterways and ports) and key financial institutions, to promote and finance sustainable freight transport through sound transport policy measures and adequate financing actions and mechanisms.

Green Freight Programme as a starting point

The Northern Corridor Green Freight Programme comes in line with the recently adopted global and continental frameworks-such as the Addis Ababa Action Agenda, 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, Agenda 2063 of the African Union, and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (Agenda 2030) focused on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) - which provide a supportive backdrop for adopting and following through on green economy initiatives.

The short term objectives of the Northern Corridor Green Freight Programme are aimed at aligning its strategic plan to green freight initiatives by improving the fuel efficiency of road transportation; reducing of Particulate matter (PM) and, black carbon, Oxides of nitrogen (NOX) and CO2 emissions that contribute to climate change as well as reducing road accidents along the Northern Corridor.

Though the contribution of Africa in general and of the Northern Corridor region in particular to global environmental degradation is insignificant, the continent is highly vulnerable to climatic hazards.

In 2011, carbon dioxide emissions in metric tonnes of CO2 per capita in Central, East, Southern and West Africa were much lower than the global and developing country average: 0.87 metric tonnes of CO2 per capita compared with 4.68 globally and 3.36 for developing regions as a whole.

In the Northern Corridor region, though there are some improvements in cars technology, studies have shown that diesel fleet averagely pollute more than petrol fleet irrespective of the weight.

With 2005 as a baseline, the average carbon-dioxide emission has increased from 653 gCO2/Km in 2005 to 792.6 gCO2/Km in 2014 for diesel fleet in Uganda whereas the carbon-dioxide emission for petrol fleet has increased from 291.8 gCO2/Km in 2005 to 331 gCO2/Km in 2014.

In Kenya, the average fuel consumption for vehicles in 2010 was 7.4 L/100km with a corresponding CO2 emission of 178.2g/km, while in 2012, fuel consumption figure stood at 7.7 L/100km, with a CO2 emission of 185.4g/km. The grand average figure of fuel consumption for the year 2012 was 7.5 L/100km with a corresponding CO2 emission of 181.7g/km.

The carbon emission is influenced by a number of factors among which, the level of economic growth, household incomes, world oil and pump price, level of technological change in the car manufacture, and policy decision.

It is in that framework that from 2011, there has been an initiative in most Northern corridor Member states to introduce low sulphur diesel fuel. Prior to 2011, the sulphur levels found in diesel in the East African region ranged between 5,000 parts per million (ppm) and 10,000 ppm, compared to that in developed countries (US and Europe) standards of 10-15 ppm.

In 2011, UNEP supported the countries in the region and lowered the amount of sulphur allowed in diesel fuel from 5,000 ppm to 500 ppm. The target was to achieve 50 parts per million sulphur fuels standards by January 2015.

The Harmonized Fuel Standards in the Northern Corridor region specify that diesel have a maximum sulphur content of 50 parts per million (ppm), while petrol should have an octane rating of 93.