Carrefour to fuel its trucks with biomethane
Carrefour will introduce 200 trucks fuelled by biomethane in five major cities in France.
While approaching the global climate conference (COP21) in December in Paris, corporations from 194 countries worldwide, begin to multiply reduction commitments related to greenhouse gas emissions. At the end of March, at Salon Produrable, 40 group members of EPE (fr. Entreprises pour l’environnement; Companies for the Environment) posted their goals.
Among the most significant ones, Carrefour, a major distributor announced almost doubling the level of CO2 emission reductions in its logistics and transport activities. If all goes well, they should reduce 20 000 tonnes per year by 2017 (9 000 tonnes in 2014).
By that time, all urban stores (Carrefour City, Carrefour Express and Carrefour Market) that the brand has in Lille, Paris, Lyon, Marseille and Bordeaux, or in numbers – 250 stores of this type out of 1 000, will be supplied by trucks fuelled by biomethane.
With this initiative, which claims to be the precursor, the distributor has three requirements. Environmental – by using a fuel that emits 90% less carbon dioxide emissions than diesel and decreasing the engine noise by half. Health is the second challenge. No fine particles, certified as carcinogenic substance since 2012 by the World Health Organization (WHO), will escape the 200 heavy duty vehicles that will eventually roll in these urban areas. Finally, in economic terms, the benefits are well worth the investment. “Between three and five years”, it would not take more, according to Jean-Philippe Mazet, the transportation director of Carrefour France, “we will reach the point of return on an investment which remains strictly confidential”.
This amortization perspective is based on the results of the two years experiemnt Lille in 2013 and 2014. A test phase after which the dealer was able to assess its ability to produce its own “fuel”. Extrapolating this experience to four other cities, it would be enough to roll 120 lorries with biomethane “Made in Carrefour” only produced by its stores at these sites in forms of food waste.
Source: Les Echos
