Total is one of the authors of a new report entitled “Speeding Up to <2°C: Actionable Clean Mobility Solutions”. Nearly 200 major transportation stakeholders decided to pool their efforts in the Open Lab Mobility think tank.
Twenty of them, including Total, helped produce an in-depth study presenting high-potential, short- and medium-term solutions to moving the transportation sector down the path to the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) Beyond 2°C scenario.
Alexis Offergeld, the Open Lab Mobility’s Director and Innovation Bottom Up Global Animator in Global Marketing & Innovation at Michelin, and Géraldine Pinol, head of Marketing & Sustainable Mobility in M&S, explain.
Open Lab is described as a “think and do tank.” What are its goals?
Alexis Offergeld / The transportation sector is the third-biggest emitter of carbon. If we keep going the way we are now, its share is expected to reach 26% of global emissions in 2030. But the IEA’s Beyond 2°C scenario calls for slashing carbon emissions by 30%.
It’s an enormous challenge. No company can do it alone, which is why major transportation and mobility players have stepped forward. We’ve decided to work together in Open Lab Mobility, whose governing companies have a combined revenue of more than €500 billion.
Its goals are to brainstorm on sustainable mobility and be an influential voice, while also taking concrete action. That’s what “think and do tank” means. Moreover, the study we’re publishing today shows that a proactive policy can yield very significant results, fast.
What are the report’s main points?
Géraldine Pinol / The “Speeding Up to <2°C: Actionable Clean Mobility Solutions” study opted to focus on solutions that combine both greenhouse gas reduction potential, technological maturity and 10-year feasibility. A key conclusion is that solutions ready to be implemented that support sustainable mobility already exist.
We can act now, by changing our behaviors or fast-tracking the development of alternative technologies whose potential has already been identified. Changing behaviors will have a massive positive impact provided they’re encouraged, especially through local municipal regulations.
As far as technological alternatives go, a mix of solutions exists. It is predicated on technologies and infrastructures that require a sizeable capital investment. Deploying this mix on a large scale is a medium-term project. The study shows that the seven types of solutions detailed in the report could, if deployed widely, comprise 37% of the transportation sector’s expected mitigation for achieving 2°C.
What did Total contribute specifically to the study and report?
GP / Total is a founding member of Open Lab Mobility and wants to position itself as a major player in sustainable mobility. We helped produce the study jointly with the other partners and provided our expertise on several of the solutions presented. What’s more, our commitment to developing such solutions is illustrated by our initiatives, which range from the partnership signed with BlaBlaCar to our involvement in the natural gas fuel sector and biofuels.
A Closer Look at Biofuels
Of all the solutions now available to curtail transportation-generated carbon emissions, biofuels have the highest potential impact. New biofuel technologies fully miscible with fossil fuels and offering high levels of greenhouse gas abatement (over 50% less carbon emissions than fossil fuels) are now ready for market, backed by regulations and years of R&D.
“Biofuels are a key component of Total’s strategy for meeting the 2°C scenario challenge,” points out Vincent Dabas, Deputy Vice President, R&C Biofuels Division. The La Mède biorefinery will be up and running in 2018 and produce 500,000 metric tons a year of HVO (hydrotreated vegetable oil) biodiesel. It will be the first world-class French biorefinery and one of the biggest in Europe.
The Challenge Bibendum
Total has been a partner since 2011 of the Challenge Bibendum, an event created by Michelin almost 20 years ago. After the 2014 event, Michelin suggested to its partners the idea of creating Open Lab Mobility. In keeping with our ambition to be a responsible energy company, we naturally chose to join this ecosystem of stakeholders interested in sustainable mobility.
The Speeding Up to <2°C study is the work product of one of the Open Lab Mobility’s communities of interest. Total also continues to be an active partner of the Challenge Bibendum event, renamed Movin’On, which will be held, as it was in 2017, in Montreal, from May 30 to June 1, 2018.
