New policies have led to the gradual phasing in of electric vans in Oslo. However, heavier vans are still lagging behind, and even less progress has been made with trucks. There is also a very limited infrastructure for charging and tanking heavy-duty transport with electricity, hydrogen and biogas in place today.

At the beginning of 2021, there is a moderate selection of emission-free heavy vans and lighter trucks available on the Norwegian market. These vehicles are likely to become markedly more available by 2025. For now, the investment cost remains significant compared to fossil fuel alternatives.

Our research in the industry shows that the most important barriers on achieving zero emission transport are finances, access to charging infrastructure and access to adequate type of vehicles. Additionally, an industry structure with many small businesses is typically more difficult to transform than actors with large fleets of vehicles.

Dialogue with the industry has shown that clear targets are needed towards zero emission in 2030, including a vocal goal of phasing out fossil fuels entirely. In order to achieve such a shift, measures are needed to reduce the financial burden on businesses. Infrastructure for charging and tanking needs to be ahead of the curve, and to be designed and scaled for a zero emission society.

The respondents say that to overcome the challenges they require measures like financial support to invest in vehicles and infrastructure, more environmental differentiation in the toll ring and other benefits like access to public transport lanes and dedicated parking for zero emission vehicles.

This report suggests the implementation of stronger local GHG mitigation measures in the toll ring, in procurements, usage benefits, regulations, support schemes and infrastructure for charging and refuelling. It also suggests measures for reduced transport and some larger pilot projects.

Some measures are most important for accelerating in the early stage (2021-22), other measures are more important for the rollout stage (2023-26) and some for the stage of phasing out fossil fuel vehicles (2027-2030).

Here, this three-stage approach is illustrated with implementation of the different measures on a timeline from 2021 to 2030.

Table 1: Shows the first of three stages for the introduction of local measures for zero emission heavy-duty transport.

Table 2: Three stages for the introduction of local measures for emission free heavy-duty transport. Stage 2: Full rollout and stage 3 phasing out all fossil fuel transport.

Table 3: National measures. Three stages for the introduction of national measures for emission free heavy-duty transport.

In the early stage the public sector needs to implement measures that can accelerate the market, while also ensuring predictability for the transport industry. The public sector also needs to ensure framework conditions like charging and tanking structure.

In the full rollout stage, there will be a wider selection of zero emission vehicles, which enables more regulations – for example the first zero-emission zones.

In the final stage, where fossil fuel vehicles are being phased out, special measures are needed in order to speed up the transformation of the vehicle fleets to zero emission. The necessary amount of effort needed in this stage will depend on the amount of fossil fuel vehicles sold earlier in the period.

The report suggests the introduction or reinforcement of the following local measures:

• Increased environmental differentiated pricing in the toll ring, including long-term predictability for free passing for zero emission, reduced rate for biogas, increased rates for environmental differentiation in the area around the inner city, increased rate for new ICE vehicles and the removal of the quantity discount.
• A reinforced procurement policy, including swifter and expanded demands for emission-free transport, stricter demands for the construction industry, a swifter renewal of the municipality’s vehicle fleet and supplier demands that their business must align with the municipality’s transport demands.
• More usage benefits, including more dedicated parking spaces favourable night parking with charging, and access to public transport lanes.
• Development of infrastructure for EV charging and tanking, including energy stations in all three ends of the city. Dealing with the barriers identified in the Urban Environment Agency’s charging strategy, and lower power grid rates through Elvia in order to ensure that EV turbocharging is always able to compete with diesel.
• More support schemes through the Climate and energy fund, including financial support for depot charging and wreck deposit for fossil fuel vehicles in the years prior to 2030.
• Zero-emission and low-emission zones, initially in limited areas of the city, and in the entire city from 2030.
• Reduced transport needs, through initiatives like facilitating for more consolidation hubs and municipal initiatives to ensure shared deliveries to the city centre.
• Large pilot projects, like initiatives for businesses and private actors to make the same procurement criteria as the municipality, zero emission routes and measures related to information, such as an information centre for emission-free heavy-duty transport in cooperation with actors like Grønt Landstransportprogram (Green Land Transport Program) and Enova (national support scheme).

Among all the local measures, the report considers three to be of particular importance, as they may be the most effective GHG-mitigating measures.

• Stricter requirements for zero emission transport in procurements is an important measure, particularly in the early stage
• Increased environmental differentiation in the toll ring is important in all three phases
• Zero emission zones with increasing sizes could give a clear direction and predictability for the transport industry and forcing out the last ICE vehicles

Table 4 below, sums up how much each measure is estimated to cut emissions, in addition to the existing measures.

Many different actors shall make decisions about vehicles, fuel, procurement criteria and other things in order for the municipality to reach its goals. Different actors have varying levels of knowledge and need of information, which may also affect decisions. For the measures from this report to lead to actual changes, information must reach all the decision makers. A clear and active information and influencing campaign towards specific groups can contribute to improving the effect of the measures.

The report also suggests enhanced national measures related to fee policies, support schemes from Enova, procurements, regulations and removal of financial and regulatory barriers. These measures are particularly important. Banning certain sales may be a last resort. Political and potentially judicial limitations are still in place, however.

There is a need of a combination of local and national measures. More ambitious national policies reduce the need of stronger local measures. However, it is important to keep in mind that Oslo have much more ambitious GHG targets to reach than the national government. Regardless, it is important that Oslo get acceptance from the government to develop an ambitious toolbox of measures, even when this can affect national interests in the Oslo region.

Particular attention should be paid to the numerous small businesses in the heavy-duty transport sector. They could for example receive assistance with their Enova applications, vehicle testing and education on zero emission technology.

When implementing the different measures, particularly zero emission zones, it is important to pay attention to the entire city. The respondents in our study only have a small share of their traffic activity in the city centre. The areas around Alnabru (freight terminal) and the stretch of road between Alnabru and Oslo harbour is of great importance.

Table 4: Evaluation of the effect of the measures for reducing GHG-emission for heavy-duty transport in Oslo. The GHG mitigating effects are calculated individually for each measure.

En arbeidsgruppe fra Klimaetaten i Oslo kommune, Elvia og Hafslund har vurdert muligheter og barrierer for elektrifisering av tungtransporten og bygg- og anleggssektoren. Gjennom dette samarbeidet er det identifisert betydelige utfordringer ved denne elektrifiseringen frem mot 2030.  Blant annet gjelder dette tilstrekkelig utbygging av ladeinfrastruktur og midlertidig tilgang på strøm.

Hafslund Rådgivnings selvstendige utredning, som er delvis gjengitt i denne rapporten, viser at Oslo kommune må legge til rette for et godt tilbud av offentlig tilgjengelig hurtigladeinfrastruktur rettet mot bygg- og anleggssektoren og tungtransporten. Samtidig må det også sørges for at næringstransport er i stand til å lade hjemme eller på terminaler/depot for å unngå «unødvendig» og kostbar utbygging av hurtiglading i bybildet. Hafslunds utredning anbefaler at Oslo kommune har videre dialog med Elvia og statlige myndigheter for å forsikre seg om at det er tilstrekkelig kapasitet i både transmisjons- og distribusjonsnett til å nå målet om å redusere klimagassutslippene med 95 prosent innen 2030.

Arbeidsgruppen har i fellesskap kommet frem til en rekke forslag til virkemidler og videre arbeid som vil bidra til å forsere elektrifiseringen av tungtransport og bygg og anlegg. De viktigste forslagene fra arbeidsgruppa er som følger:

• Oslo kommune utarbeider en oversikt over kommende effekt- og energibehov på adresser i Oslo basert på blant annet planlagt elektrifisering av kommunens egen kjøretøy- og maskinpark, bygge- og anleggsprosjekter i regi av Oslo kommune, og utbygging av offentlig tilgjengelig ladeinfrastruktur i regi av kommunen. Arbeidet bør koordinere kommunens forespørsler om økt nettkapasitet, og kan involvere ressursbruk fra flere virksomheter i kommunen, blant annet Utviklings- og kompetanseetaten, Vann- og avløpsetaten, Bymiljøetaen, Oslobygg, Fornebubanen, Renovasjons- og gjenvinningsetaten og Klimaetaten.
• I samarbeid med nettselskap etablerer Oslo kommune pilot-/FoU-prosjekt hvor forventet og faktisk effektbehov fra utslippsfrie bygge-/anleggsplass dokumenteres og analyseres. Oslo kommune formidler hensiktsmessige framskrivninger for byggeaktivitet og tilhørende behov for effekt, basert på allerede tilgjengelig informasjon og databaser. Klimaetaten kan koordinere arbeidet i Oslo kommune, hvor flere relevante virksomheter bør inviteres inn.
• Oslo kommune kan ta investeringsrisiko ved bestilling av nett/kapasitet i tidlig fase for byggeplasser, reguleringsplaner, lade-hub eller lignende. Dette kan gjøres ved å etablere et selskap som tar risiko for nettutbygging, og det vurderes som hensiktsmessig om dette håndteres av byrådsavdeling for næring og eierskap.
• Nettselskapet veileder kunder slik at de er kjent med vilkår i forbindelse med tilknytning, utkoblbar/fleksibel tariff, og tiltak som kan redusere behovet for nettkapasitet.
• I forbindelse med arbeidet med ny arealdel i kommuneplanen, vurderer Oslo kommune mulighet for å stille krav til etablering av lading i regulering, eller krav om tidlig fremlegging av strøm før bygge- og anleggsfasen. Arbeidet bør være et samarbeid mellom Plan- og bygningsetaten og Klimaetaten.
• I samarbeid mellom Oslo kommune og Hafslund Ny Energi etableres et FoU-/innovasjonssamarbeid for å utvikle og pilotere nye løsninger knyttet til elektrifisering av mobilitetssektoren i Oslo.

Elvia og Hafslund har sentrale roller i elektrifiseringen av Oslo, og dermed for realiseringen av Oslo kommunes klimamål. Dette er selvstendige virksomheter med andre driftsmål og rammer enn hva Oslo kommune har. Denne rapporten viser et stort potensial for å videreutvikle og konkretisere samarbeidet, både med tanke på videre satsninger/tiltak og pilotprosjekter. Arbeidsgruppen som er etablert med Klimaetaten, Elvia og Hafslund anbefales derfor videreført, i første omgang til sommeren 2023.

The power required by zero-emission construction sites represents a concerning change from that of today’s construction sites. This is because every zero emission construction site, seen in isolation, requires a lot of power. When hundreds of zero emission projects are ran simultaneously, their energy and power consumption will be significant.

This report has looked in to three different scenarios for the future operation of zero emission construction sites; reference, middle and optimised scenario. Regardless of scenario, the power demand that the city has to handle towards 2030 will be very high in the event of a zero emission construction sector. At the same time, there are considerable benefits related to improving the power grids if one is able to use solutions and concepts from the optimised zero emission future scenario and avoid unnecessary charging of electric vehicles (EV) within the construction zone itself. Full optimisation can potentially limit the total increased power demand to 120 MW for the construction and heavy-duty transport sectors. However, this calculation is based on a significant use of alternative energy sources, such as  district heating, biogas and hydrogen solutions for energy-intensive work and processes. The estimates for heavy-duty transport represents the estimated power from a minimum level of publically available fast  chargers. The power demand of to charge other electric vehicles will come in addition.

The power demand can be close to 750 MW in the middle scenario and up to 1,600 MW in the reference scenario if the construction activity is not organised optimally in relation to the power grid. Both scenarios represent a power demand that is not manageable for either the distribution or the transmission grid.

Different scenarios will require different approaches and varying amounts of charging. As the optimised scenario is the only scenario that can be realised in 2030 from a power grid perspective, this is the scenario used as a basis for the assessments of charging infrastructure.

There is a high degree of assumed simultaneousness to the construction projects. In principle, each of the 300 ongoing zero emission construction projects has to be able to charge its electric machines. This means a minimum of 300 fast charging stations with an average maximum power demand of 300 kW. Larger construction projects will have higher demands, whereas smaller projects need less power.

Despite depot charging being the main energy source for heavy vehicles it is important with adequate amount of public available fast charging stations along highways in the city.. A condition in the optimised scenario is charging of heavy-duty vehicles outside the construction area. Therefore, the industry depends on good depot charging and a very good network of fast chargers fitted for heavy vehicles. This report recommends thirty-two fast chargers with high power (up to 1 MW) in order to enable effective electric heavy-duty transport to and from zero emission construction zones. These should be spread along the main roads in all directions going out of the city. As many vehicles are expected to be charging simultaneously, it will be necessary with a higher capacity than what would otherwise be needed when establishing new infrastructure.

To sum up, Oslo municipality has to facilitate for a vast, publicly available fast charging infrastructure that is catered towards the construction sector and heavy-duty transport. This is considered a prerequisite in order to achieve sufficient change to reach the 2030 climate targets. However, it is important to make sure that it is possible to charge commercial vehicles at home or on terminals / depots to avoid unnecessary and costly development of fast chargers in the city.

Even in the optimised scenario,  where the power demand increases with 120 MWthe electrical grid is expected be put under significant pressure. Improvements in the electric power distribution can be time consuming and costly for the customers, while upgrades on the electric power transmission are lengthy processes and work that can take up to ten years. To avoid a scenario where limitations of the electrical grid prevents the the City of Oslo from reaching their climate goals, the municipality is recommended to enter into dialogue with Elvia (distribution grid operator) and Statnett (Norwegian transmission system operator). This report recommends that the municipality gather documentation that displays plans for sufficient and timely capacity of the grid to be able to handle the expected energy demand from zero emission construction activity and heavy-duty transport.

One of the most important prerequisites for an expedited development of new charging infrastructure for heavy-duty transport and construction zones in Oslo, is the establishing of well-functioning routines and processes for mapping grid capacity and new potential power connections.The municipality of Oslo can consider involving one or more companies that map and potentially make early investments in grid capacity improvement on behalf of construction clients, contractors or charging operators. This will avoid lengthy processing times and ensure transparency surrounding the prerequisites for establishing new infrastructure. Consequently, this will contribute to faster and better erection of charging networks for heavy-duty transport and the construction sector in the city.

The charging operators are often going to perceive the cost of investment of establishing new fast charging infrastructure as substantial. In such cases, support schemes related to grid capacity improvements can be enabling. For the construction sector, however, the support schemes are less significant, as the construction project costs in most cases far exceed the costs related to grid capacity upgrades (~100x).

Fast chargers dedicated to heavy-duty vehicles, with a varying load throughout the day  can experience that power tariffs will equate to up to half of the energy costs. There exists some grid tariff solutions to reduce the tariffs substantially, but it is unclear whether this is considered attractive to the charging operators. For the construction sector, the grid tariffs will not be a particularly significant part of the collected energy costs.

The City of Oslo should, along with the grid operator, contractors and charging operators, look at whether new, alternate solutions for grid tariffs and power tariffs can be arranged effectively and to avoid limiting new infrastructure development.

• Det haster å legge om til en mer klimarobust utvikling. Denne har som mål å sikre livskvalitet, redusert fattigdom, levedyktige økosystemer, sosial rettferdighet samt begrense global oppvarming og klimarisiko. En slik omlegging krever gjennomgripende samfunnsendring. Det er stort etterslep på dette også i byer i Europa, men samtidig kan byplanlegging være en arena for utvikling av nye typer klimatilpasning og beslutningsprosesser.

• Hvordan klimarobust utvikling ser ut i praksis varierer fra sted til sted, men noen hoveddimensjoner legger til rette for beslutninger som styrker klimarobust utvikling: samhandling og beslutningsprosesser der ivaretakelse av økosystemer, sosial rettferd og likhet, inkludering, og mangfold av kunnskap står i sentrum.

• Det er viktig å inkludere marginaliserte grupper for å redusere sårbarhet. Klimatilpasning i byer har ofte vært tekniske og myntet på å redusere fysisk risiko. Det vil være viktig for Oslo å identifisere hvem som er mest sårbare og hvilke prosesser som skaper sosial ulikhet og sårbarhet i møte med klimaendringer.

• Transformativ tilpasning inkluderer tiltak for å utjevne sosiale forskjeller og redusere sårbarhet. Helsesektoren viktig for å fremme klimarobust utvikling, blant annet fordi livskvalitet er et sentralt mål for klimarobust utvikling i byer som et alternativ til lock-in i utslippsintensiv vekst, og fordi sårbarhet og helseulikhet er nært knyttet sammen.

• Det haster med å transformere styresett, forvaltning, beslutningsprosesser og infrastruktur. Klimatilpasning er en prosess på tvers av sektorer og over tid, heller enn enkelt-tiltak. Klimarobust utvikling krever at klimatilpasning går hånd i hånd med utslippsreduksjon og styrking av bærekraftig utvikling. Det haster å sette igang tiltak.  Investeringer i infrastruktur har lang levetid. Klimatilpasning blir vanskeligere hvor varmere det blir. Økt oppvarming svekker mulighetene for en effektiv tilpasning. Dersom bærekraftsmålene oppnås vil dette styrke evnen til å legge om til mer klimarobust utviklingsstier.

• Løsningene ligger i naturen og en endring mot mer ivaretakende forhold mellom mennesker og natur. Det er økt fokus på økosystem-basert klimatilpasning og ulike naturbaserte løsninger i byer.

The Norwegian Environment Agency’s (NEA) greenhouse gas inventory for each municipality is the basis for the preparation of the climate budget. On 18 January 2022, the NEA published the updated greenhouse gas inventory for the municipalities, with a correction for the energy supply sector, which was sent by email to the Oslo Agency for Climate on 14 March 2022. The greenhouse gas inventory has new figures for 2020, and updated numbers for the time series back to 2009. This memorandum summarises and comments on the development of greenhouse gas emissions in Oslo from 2009 to 2020 and explains the changes that have been put in place since the last greenhouse gas inventory was published in 2021.

The greenhouse gas inventory shows that the greenhouse gas emissions in Oslo in 2020 amounted to approximately 1.08 million tonnes CO₂ equivalents. This is a reduction of 5.2 per cent from 2019. In the period from 2009 to 2020 the greenhouse gas emissions have never been as low as in 2020 and compared with the 2009 level the emissions are down by 25 per cent.

Emissions from all sectors have been reduced between 2019 and 2020. For the waste and wastewater, industry, oil, and gas, aviation, heating, and road traffic sectors the emissions in 2020 were at the lowest level for the 2009 to 2020 period. Emissions from vehicular traffic declined by 4.9 per cent, corresponding to somewhat less than 30 000 tonnes CO₂ equivalents, due to the increased proportion of electric cars and the addition of biofuel. Emissions from other mobile combustion dropped by 6.8 per cent and less than 10 000 tonnes CO₂ equivalents. The calculation method for emissions from other mobile combustion is nevertheless uncertain, which makes it challenging to explain both the emission level and trends in the sector.

Emissions from heating dropped by 21.1 per cent, corresponding to almost 6000 tonnes CO₂ equivalents, due to a steep decline in the use of fossil heating sources. This decline is the result of the ban on oil-fired heating that has been in force as of 1 January 2020. Emissions from waste incineration and energy supply were reduced by 4.4 per cent, corresponding to approximately 12 000 tonnes of CO₂ equivalents, and is generally due to reduced use of fossil energy sources in distant heating production.

The greenhouse gas inventory shows continuous improvement. Changes have been made to the methods used in this year’s published figures, but development is still needed. The NEA will continue its work in 2022. Adjustments may thus be expected in the figures to be published in December 2022. Adjustments that can be ascribed to changes in methods will affect the emissions in the whole time series, from 2009 to the most recent year with statistics.

• You might want to read: The City of Oslo’s emissions continue to drop