The Climate Pledge—co-founded by Amazon and Global Optimism—and C40 Cities recently launched Laneshift, a partnership to tackle carbon emissions through zero-emission freight by reimagining medium- and heavy-duty shipping vehicles and the routes they travel.
Road freight is a major source of air pollution and one of the most important sectors to decarbonize, but it’s also one of the most challenging. And according to the Global Commercial Vehicle Roadmap for reaching 100% zero emission commercial trucks sales by 2040, cities will need to be saturated with electric vehicle (EV) trucks by 2030 in order to meet that target.1 Laneshift is designed to help make that possible. In partnership with cities, Laneshift will accelerate the development of EV infrastructure and the deployment of EV trucks across cities in India (Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai, and Pune) and Latin America (Bogotá and Medellin, Colombia; Curitiba and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Quito, Ecuador; and Mexico City, Mexico), reducing emissions, cleaning up the air, generating green jobs, and working towards a just transition for workers.
In 2020, road freight emitted more than 2.2 billion metric tons of CO22—that’s two times more emissions than air, sea, and rail freight combined—and current projections suggest it’s not set to slow down. Through Laneshift, The Climate Pledge, C40 Cities (a network of mayors from around the world), private and public sector stakeholders, city governments and non-government organizations will all work together to help equitably reduce and avoid greenhouse emissions. The organizations will also contribute to cleaning up dirty air that impacts vulnerable communities in some of the largest and most densely populated cities in Latin America, where road freight is expected to double by 2050,3 and in India, where urban freight is projected to grow by 140% by 2030.4 By sending demand signals and collaborating across transportation and logistics sectors, Laneshift will help create a roadmap for how the freight industry and cities can work together to accelerate the transition to EV freight. This locally focused initiative complements Amazon’s federal and regional efforts in these countries.
“Cities in Latin America and India offer excellent opportunities to lead the way for electrification of trucks, and collaboration in these regions are critical to accelerating the transition to a cleaner, healthier environment,” said Kara Hurst, vice president and head of Worldwide Sustainability at Amazon. “Laneshift provides a platform to bring stakeholders together to move faster.”
“Road freight is a high priority for decarbonization and a difficult sector to tackle. Laneshift will bring together cities and businesses that are at the leading edge of climate action, through this unique partnership between C40 and The Climate Pledge. This is the kind of collaboration that will be essential for success,” said Tom Rivett-Carnac, founding partner of Global Optimism.
Laneshift will also ask Climate Pledge signatories, and a variety of other companies including financiers and original equipment manufacturers, to join the initiative to catalyze climate action in the transportation sector.
“Road freight is a major source of global emissions. To meet net-zero emission targets, we need to urgently electrify truck fleets. Laneshift will help to lay the groundwork for the adoption of EV vehicles in India and Latin America by decarbonizing freight in cities, resulting in cleaner air and good, green jobs even beyond city borders,” said Mark Watts, executive director at C40 Cities.
C40 Cities is a network of nearly 100 mayors of the world’s leading cities working to deliver the urgent action needed right now to confront the climate crisis and create a future where everyone, everywhere can thrive. Mayors of C40 Cities are committed to using a science-based and people-focused approach to help the world limit global warming to 34.7 degrees Fahrenheit (1.5 degrees Celsius) and build healthy, equitable, and resilient communities. Through a Global Green New Deal, mayors are working alongside a broad coalition of representatives from labor, business, youth climate movement, and civil society to go further and faster than ever before.
“Curitiba is already transitioning to electric buses, but our plan is to accelerate the shift toward electric freight vehicles as well, as it is insufficient to use electricity just to move people: We must use it to move goods, as well. Let us use all of the tools at our disposal to address the growing climate crisis. The planet needs to be protected as humanity cannot tolerate extreme temperature increases,” said Rafael Greca, mayor of Curitiba, Brazil.
“Mumbai is a major freight hub. With support from C40 and The Climate Pledge, we’ll be able to accelerate the much-needed electrification our fleet not just in the city, but across Maharashtra and beyond. Laneshift will be good for our people and our planet,” said Iqbal Singh Chahal, the municipal commissioner & administrator of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation.
Amazon continues to decarbonize its own transportation network with multiple EV partnerships around the world. In 2022, Amazon had more than 9,000 electric delivery vehicles (EDV) in its global fleet and delivered over 145 million packages using EVs in the U.S. and Europe. Today, Amazon has more than 5,000 Rivian EDVs operating in the U.S., and it recently announced the first 300 to hit the road in Germany, helping the company achieve its goal of having 100,000 Rivian EVs on the road by 2030. The company is also on track to have 10,000 EVs in India by 2025.