Italy: Coca Cola to use H2 for transport

Coca-Cola HBC Italia (CCHBC), The Coca-Cola Company’s bottling company in Italy, has announced the formation of a consortium made up of its main hauliers Italtrans, Number1, Casilli Enterprise, and Favaro Servizi, as well as London-based energy transition adviser Ikigai Capital (IKIGAI) and green energy development company NVA, to decarbonize its road transport operations as part of their 2040 net-zero goal.

While the ultimate goal is to develop a net-zero transportation procurement, investment, and implementation project for vehicles, fuels, and related infrastructure, the first phase of the project will involve a feasibility study to better understand the dynamics of road transport in CCHBC and to develop net zero-aligned alternative solutions, including the upstream and downstream infrastructure ecosystem required to decarbonize such a difficult-to-abate area.

In the coming phases, Ikigai will collaborate with NVA to deliver a pilot project that will include the establishment of multi-fuel hubs for the supply of green fuels (such as electricity, biomethane, and hydrogen) as well as the establishment of an ecosystem for the supply of zero-emission/low-carbon vehicles. Given the numerous hurdles of decarbonizing the road transportation industry, stakeholder participation is critical. To achieve the energy transition, all stakeholders involved (demand, supply, technology providers, funders, and government agencies) will need to work together to produce a critical mass on the demand side, suitable technological solutions, as well as financial support and incentives.

Manuel Biella, Director of Italian Supply Chain, said “We recognize the enormous challenges to achieve net-zero emissions in the road transport sector, but we also know that the change is needed now, and we want to be leading the way. That’s why Coca-Cola HBC Italia is committed to supporting this project and our haulers in their decarbonization journey and investing resources to lead the way and become an example for a sustainable logistics sector”

Roberto Castiglioni, Co-founder, and CEO of Ikigai Capital said “we don’t believe there is a silver bullet to decarbonize the transport sector; we believe we need a silver bucket, different solutions for different applications. That’s why we believe multi-fuel hubs are the answer and we are eager to export our model to Italy with such a forward-thinking client like CCHBC. It’s all about understanding the real-life challenges through data analysis, having a holistic and technology-agnostic approach, while delivering value to all of the project stakeholders”.