Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 26 April 2022
101. Deputy Steven Matthews asked the Minister for Transport the steps he is taking to decarbonise last-mile deliveries in town and city centres and in particular to use smaller and lighter vehicles, including e-cargo bikes and trikes; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20702/22]
View answerI want to ask the steps the Minister is taking to decarbonise last-mile deliveries in town and city centres and in particular to use smaller and lighter vehicles including e-cargo bikes and trikes, and if he can make a statement on the matter.
As in passenger transport, enabling the freight sector and businesses to avail of cleaner and more efficient delivery alternatives will be necessary to reduce Ireland's transport emissions and meet our climate goals. Currently, heavy goods vehicles account for around 20%, and light goods vehicles for 18% of national transport emissions. In the coming months, my Department will publish a ten-year strategy for the haulage sector. The Government's aim is to develop a strategy that will focus on generating efficiencies and improving standards. This strategy will include considerations on the decarbonisation of last-mile deliveries. Work on the strategy is ongoing with a plan for further consultation with the public and stakeholders in the coming months.
While emissions reduction for our HGV sector has particular challenges given that low-emissions technology remains in development, electrification is a realistic option for last-mile deliveries in our towns and urban centres. Our Climate Action Plan 2021 targets 95,000 electric vans in use by 2030. In that regard, the cross-departmental electric vehicle policy pathway working group will consider the regulatory, financial and taxation policies to help achieve this target. For urban commercial journeys, the Government will also continue to promote greater sustainable mobility by encouraging the use of e-cargo bikes. The public sector will have an important role in leading and encouraging businesses to make this shift, and a number of local authorities have already introduced e-cargo bike pilots for local businesses that are proving popular. I would also note in particular the example of An Post's efforts in attaining zero emissions delivery status in our major cities. These examples demonstrate that shifting to cleaner last-mile delivery options makes sense for business and will help to make our urban centres safer and healthier. All of these measures will continue to be supported by the enhanced investment we are making in walking and cycling infrastructure across the country.
I welcome that. The Minister of State has identified that there is a ten-year strategy and that it will incorporate parts of the last-mile delivery concept. I will quote some figures from the World Economic Forum, which refers to the increase in online shopping and the demand for e-commerce. The forum estimates that the increase will result in 36% more delivery vehicles in inner cities by 2030 and that, as a consequence, emissions from delivery traffic will increase by 32% and congestion will rise by over 21%. The Minister of State quite rightly pointed out the importance of reducing fossil-fuel emissions and of the transition to electric vehicles. The noise of vehicles travelling around our urban centres must be considered. There would be a negative impact on air quality. We have been discussing air quality a lot in the past two weeks. There is also a road safety aspect. Couriers work hard. They work long hours and are under a lot of pressure, but having so many large vehicles in our urban centres and residential areas creates a safety issue.
Much really good work is happening across some of our local authority areas. There are pilot schemes in place. Dún-Laoghaire Rathdown County Council is piloting cargo bikes for businesses. It is a six-month cargo-bike pilot scheme. Cork City Council has the cargo bike library. In this regard, some €45,000 has been provided by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform with the aim of establishing a cargo bike fleet library. Businesses and community groups will be allowed to borrow a bike for six months as part of a trial scheme to determine whether a cargo bike could be used daily. Dublin City Council has a pilot for e-cargo bikes for businesses. It was launched late last year following the success of the Dún-Laoghaire Rathdown pilot. A similar scheme was launched by Fingal County Council.
It is important that we acknowledge the leadership shown by An Post. It has over 1,000 electric vehicles, including 155 e-trikes. An Post is the first postal service in the world to attain zero-emission delivery status in all the major cities.
I thank the Minister of State. She is quite right to point out the good work being done by An Post. Any Deputy who sits on the north side of Leinster House 2000 building will note that a courier company operates there. A 40-foot truck arrives on one of the evenings in the week and all the parcels and packages in it are decanted into smaller vehicles, including e-bikes and e-trikes, like An Post vehicles. This shows that there is willingness to do what I propose. It also makes economic sense. Economic sense underlines this a lot.
The trial of cargo bikes or e-bikes is a great idea. Anybody who has ever tried an e-bike will have noted how much it could extend his or her commuting distance. That has genuinely positive impacts for how all of us will travel. If we can provide safer infrastructure, I have no doubt that the take-up of e-bikes and e-scooters will result in benefits not only in haulage and distribution but also in general transport.
The EU Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme focuses on optimising logistics. This is all part of what we are looking at through the ten-year haulage strategy. The programme is called SENATOR and the aim behind it is to create a new urban logistics model for enhancing city sustainability. The project will develop a smart network operator as a control tower supported on an ICT platform that will work as a support tool for decision-making, integrating and the planning of logistics operations. These are the ideas we are looking for in the public consultation on the ten-year haulage strategy. It is for the industry to come forward with its ideas so we can integrate, consider schemes, run pilots and determine what works. We call on everyone in the supply-chain sector to feed into our ten-year haulage strategy. That will lower emissions, but also improve efficiencies within the sector.
