Work toward net zero targets with more advanced lower carbon strategies
Your company is leading the way in the journey to lower carbon emissions. Your organization may have reduced waste, upgraded facilities, modernized equipment and may have had a sustainability director leading your staff for several years. As part of your efforts, you are actively tracking emission reductions and have set goals to reach a net zero target. At this point, you may be looking to add more aggressive strategies to meet your benchmarks.
Connect with one of our experts for more information on how we can support your lower carbon journey.
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For commercial transportation, fuel is one of the largest sources of lifecycle carbon emissions within the supply chain.1 Continuing the incorporation of lower carbon biofuels can help decrease these emissions. With an increasing number of options available, the lower carbon fuels industry now provides greater flexibility to find the right solution for a variety of situations.
As your company continues to look for ways to accelerate your lower carbon journey, we’ve provided some additional steps you may consider taking.
Explore additional lower carbon solutions
Your company is likely utilizing biodiesel and/or renewable diesel. Remember, these drop-in fuels will continue to offer lower lifecycle carbon emissions today.
As you know, biodiesel is a high-quality fuel for use in conventional diesel applications and can be used in most existing diesel vehicles and fueling infrastructure, giving diesel fleets a solution for lowering lifecycle carbon emissions quickly with existing equipment.
Other benefits of biodiesel include:
-Enables reduced carbon intensity today with lower Carbon Intensity (CI) than petroleum diesel
-Reduces pollutants in tailpipe emissions from legacy engines and can reduce the burden on New Technology Diesel Engine’s (NTDE) emissions control systems (fewer DPF regenerations, for example)
-Compared to petroleum diesel, biodiesel can reduce engine emissions by:
- Up to 100% for fossil carbon2
- Up to 70% for particulate matter3
- Up to 70% for particulate matter3
Renewable diesel can serve as a direct replacement to petroleum diesel for maximum engine performance and reduced carbon emission benefits across the fleet.
Other benefits of renewable diesel include:
-Stringent quality standards that exceed ASTM, CEN and CGSB specification requirements
-Lower Carbon Intensity (CI) allows for emissions solutions today
-Compared to petroleum diesel, renewable diesel can reduce engine emissions by:
- Up to 100% for fossil carbon2
- Up to 30% for particulate matter2
-Approximately 15% for nitrogen oxides (NOx)3
Incorporating higher blends of biodiesel
Increasing the blend rate of biodiesel is another way your company can help accelerate its lower carbon journey.
With more than two decades of experience in the biofuels industry, we know there can be additional benefits to using higher blends of biodiesel — both for the life of the engine and for potential ROI improvements.
Higher blends greater than B20 have been used by many on-road fleets. We’ve conducted tests to compare various biodiesel blend levels to petroleum diesel in terms of engine-out particulate matter emissions, engine-out soot and general wear of engine components, including injectors and valves. The results indicate that higher blends are safe to use, and by many measures, may be better for engine performance than straight petroleum diesel.
Other benefits of higher blends include lower carbon intensity, enhanced lubricity and may even improve engine performance. In addition, B20 fuel efficiency has performed similar to that #2 ULSD fleet in terms of fuel economy, fuel properties, engine oil samples, and operations and maintenance issues.4
Higher blends of biodiesel results in lower fossil carbon emissions. Air quality, or criteria emissions, such as lower particulate matter, total hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide are lower in engine emissions with increased biodiesel content.5
B100 with Optimus Technology
Biodiesel is a lower carbon alternative to petroleum diesel that is readily available today. It is suitable for use in any diesel engine, and works with current infrastructure, often being blended at a level of 20%, or B20. With Optimus’ new technology, biodiesel is now able to be utilized as B100.
The B100 system from Optimus Technologies is an innovative and cost-effective approach for fleets to improve on their emissions targets. Vehicles are equipped to run on B100 through a simple vehicle add-on. The system starts and shuts down the engine using conventional diesel, operating on 100% biodiesel only after the vehicle has reached optimal operating conditions. This allows fleets to operate on B100 year-round.
Explore other lower carbon fuel solutions
Renewable natural gas
Renewable Natural Gas (RNG) is produced through anaerobic digestion of manure, food, municipal, and solid waste; and is sourced from dairy farms, waste treatment facilities, and landfills. What would normally decompose, producing methane emissions that are 30 times more potent than CO2, is instead processed into a carbon negative fuel and delivered to vehicles at RNG/CNG fueling stations. Learn more about renewable natural gas and compressed natural gas
Compressed natural gas
CNG is natural gas (methane) that is stored and transported under high pressure in its gaseous state. When compared to conventional diesel, CNG has many advantages:
- Lower carbon intensity based on reduced emissions across its production life cycle
- Lower engine emissions of NOx and particulate matter
The range of CNG-powered heavy-duty trucks typically exceeds electric-powered trucks relying on still-emerging EV technology.
Hydrogen
Including hydrogen in your fuel portfolio can help you to evolve your fuel offerings for shifting customer needs at select retail stations. Light-duty, hydrogen-powered fuel-cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) are growing in popularity. Fleets are seeking to lower their carbon intensity, and hydrogen fuel can help attract new customers in light- and heavy-duty fleet sectors. Hydrogen is a lower carbon intensity fuel that may also help your value in the commercial sector. Learn more about hydrogen
Understand Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions and how to measure them
Scope 1, 2 and 3 is a way of categorizing the different kinds of carbon emissions a company creates in its own operations and in its wider value chain.
- Scope 1 emissions— Covers the Green House Gas (GHG) emissions that a company produces. Examples include operating your fleets or boilers.
- Scope 2 emissions — These are the emissions a company makes indirectly – such as the electricity or energy you buy for heating and cooling buildings.
- Scope 3 emissions — All emissions that are not directly associated with the organization, but which you are indirectly responsible for, up and down your value chain. For example, emissions from buying products from suppliers and emissions from your products as customers use them.
Scopes 1 and 2 are mostly within an organization’s control. Companies will normally have the source data needed to convert direct purchases of gas and electricity into a value such as tons of GHG emissions. This information may sit with procurement, finance, operational management or in a sustainability function.
Scope 3 is often where there is a significant impact. For many businesses, Scope 3 emissions account for more than about 70% of their carbon footprint. For example, for a manufacturing organization, there will often be significant carbon emissions from the extraction, manufacture and processing of the raw materials necessary to produce their products.
Committing to reach net zero will involve tackling your Scope 3 emissions. Definitions for what constitutes net zero can be slippery - but businesses looking to adopt best practices will need to investigate Scope 3 emissions as part of their plans. Mapping your emissions footprint by scale, and how much control your company has over the source is a good way to start addressing them.6
Encourage supply chain partners to lower their carbon emissions
Top fleets including PepsiCo are looking for suppliers that hold themselves to strict environmental standards with goals to reduce carbon emissions. While addressing scope 1 and 2 emissions has been relatively straightforward for these large companies, Scope 3 has been more difficult, and they need upstream partners who are committed to net zero targets and are using innovative solutions to get there.7 If you capitalize on these opportunities to collaborate with your customers and partners throughout the supply chain, being an advisor on lower carbon actions may result in additional opportunities with your customers and partners.
Tell Your Story
While your company is heading in a positive direction, quantifying your lower carbon emissions for employees, investors, customers and suppliers can be challenging. As you get stakeholders involved and integrated into your lower carbon journey, you may find that you can reach your targets more quickly. Cross-functional collaboration is key; all stakeholders — including CFOs, heads of sustainability, operations, procurement and risk departments — need to have a good understanding of your lower carbon plans and the data that is associated with it. Those groups can then play an informed role in getting the word out to their teams, customers and suppliers about the important work your company is doing.
Develop an internal communication plan around reporting results that includes KPIs, units, and evidence to help your company prove how and why you have implemented certain lower carbon strategies. Your organization — as well as external investors, customers and suppliers — can use this plan as one source of information.8
Look for opportunities to tell your story to your customers and key stakeholders. Utilize your social media channels and website as resources when you are talking to customers and prospects. Be sure to translate complex jargon, acronyms and other high-level information into terms anyone can understand.
Use Chevron’s tools to help define your story
GHG Emissions Reporting
Chevron provides a monthly lower carbon summary report estimating the metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions avoided by using our lower carbon solutions. The report can help provide relatable equivalents for comparison purposes, including:
- The number of miles it would take for a passenger car to release a similar amount of carbon emissions.
- The number of metric tons of coal burned it would take to generate a similar amount of carbon emissions.
- The number of acres of U.S. forests it would take to sequester a similar amount of carbon emissions.
When your employees, investors, customers and suppliers see the impact of your efforts in terms relevant to them, your story becomes motivating and inspiring. Learn more about our lower carbon summary report here.
Emissions calculator
Use our carbon emissions calculator to determine how you could reach your targets.
As your company evaluates and evolves your lower carbon strategy, it may be beneficial to visualize additional opportunities by integrating more biofuels. Just enter your fuel application, the timeframe, gallons or liters, annual fuel consumption and the percentage of total fuel consumption that you want to convert to bio-based diesel. The calculator provides an estimated reduction of Scope 1 fossil fuel emissions in metric tons.
Chevron can help
Product quality, agile operations and logistics, lower carbon solutions and strategic partnerships are all ways we can help drive value for your business. We’re here to be your partner and support your lower carbon journey by leveraging decades of experience helping customers meet their unique needs.
Chevron delivers a suite of lower carbon solutions and technical expertise with the integrity required to meet our customers’ greatest challenges and ambitions, advancing lower carbon progress wherever they are in their journey.
Contact Chevron to help you get started on your lower carbon journey
1 https://fortune.com/2022/06/15/climate-change-carbon-emissions-net-zero-goals/
2 Product is produced from renewable oils and fats. Methanol used to make biodiesel and hydrogen used to make renewable diesel and SAF are typically made from conventional natural gas, but can be produced from renewable resources
3 CARB Assessment of the Emissions from the Use of Biodiesel as a Motor Vehicle Fuel in California "Biodiesel Characterization and NOx Mitigation Study." Durbin (2011)
4 “Quantitative Evaluation of an On-Highway Trucking Fleet to Compare #2 ULSD and B20 Fuels and their Impact on Overall Fleet Performance”; C.R. McKinley, J.H. Lumkes Jr.
5 Chevron Renewable Energy Group data
6 Deloitte https://www2.deloitte.com/uk/en/focus/climate-change/zero-in-on-scope-1-2-and-3-emissions.html
7 https://sciencebasedtargets.org/companies-taking-action/case-studies/pepsico
8 https://www.atechlogistics.com/7-ways-to-lower-your-carbon-emissions-in-trucking-logistics/