Commercial fleet is a group of vehicles utilized by a company to pursue its business objectives, regardless of whether persons or freight are being transported. Any type of vehicle can be included in the commercial fleet; however, aviation, shipping and road freight transport are deemed the most difficult sectors to decarbonise. Specific challenges also exist in reducing the GHG emissions of the mining and construction fleets. Different measures can be taken for the purpose of reducing the carbon footprint of commercial fleets (e.g. route, freight or speed optimisation, improving vessels’ propulsion efficiency, fuel efficiency etc.), however, retrofitting and/or replacing vehicles fuelled by conventional fuels (mostly diesel) with "greener" options has the greatest impact.
In the shipping sector, slow steaming and biofuels can reduce emissions by up to 79%. Wind-assisted propulsion could deliver more than 50% of energy required by a ship’s main engine when slow steaming. Electric propulsion is being trialled on a small scale.
For all types of fleets, the emission reductions from using hydrogen depend on the carbon-footprint of the electricity production process.
In road freight transport, for light and medium trucks, an extensive use of batteries is possible, whereas heavy trucks rely most on the development of hydrogen fuel cells.
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