By Emma Okonji
Ericsson has joined The Pathways Coalition, a group of innovative companies representing the infrastructure, utilities, transportation and retail sectors, with the objective to accelerate decarbonisation of heavy transport and reach the objective of zero carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions latest by year 2050 or earlier.
The objective to reduce carbon emission is in line with The Paris Agreement, and Ericsson is expected to support the coalition with its unique expertise.
Today, transport is the second largest source of global CO2 emissions and currently contributes nearly a quarter of all global emissions. Within this, commercial heavy transport represents a significant share of the pie, and in order to reach the climate target set in The Paris Agreement, it is essential to fully decarbonize commercial heavy transport by the year 2050 or earlier, the coalition said.
The Pathways Study concludes that a transition to decarbonized heavy transport is not only possible, but also financially attractive from a societal perspective. However, to tackle the challenge and speed up the pace of change, cooperation across sectors is necessary, the coalition said in a statement.
The four companies that have formed The Pathways Coalition include E.ON, H&M Group, Scania and Siemens, and they represent different parts of the value chain for electrified transport such as energy infrastructure provision, energy solutions and supply, vehicle manufacturing, as well as retail with the transport buyer perspective.
The coalition is of the view that with Ericsson from the digital sector now joining the group to share its expertise within digitalisation and advanced connectivity, it will add a missing piece to advance the pace of change necessary across the crucial sector.
Ericsson is meant to bring its experiences as a major buyer of transport services for the global distribution of its mobile network equipment and the successful work to reduce CO2 emissions in its own supply chain.
Head of Sustainability at Ericsson, Mats Pellbäck Scharp, who is responsible for the organization’s cooperation with the coalition, said Ericsson’s unique cross-sector setup would be the key to success.
“The coalition is unique from the perspective that we have a cross-value chain approach instead of a within-industry approach – most industry associations like this are comprised of members all from the same industry and are focused on working with your peers in the same industry more or less.
