At the Rencontres Économiques d’Aix-en-Provence, an economic forum attended by many organizations from around the world, 11 international groups have announced they have joined forces to form an international coalition open to new members. AWS, Carrefour Group, CMA CGM Group, Cluster Maritime Français, Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank, Engie, Faurecia, Michelin, Schneider Electric, Total and Wärtsilä are the existing members.
The Coalition aims to accelerate the development of energy sources and technologies to address the challenges posed by sustainable mobility in the transport and logistics industry by reducing emissions, fighting global warming and protecting biodiversity. The 11 existing members are pooling their expertise in pursuit of three key goals to achieve genuine technological breakthroughs with tangible results by 2030:
* Unlock a more extensive portfolio of clean energy sources,
* Lower energy consumption per kilometer-equivalent of goods transported,
* Eliminate a substantial proportion of emissions linked to transport and logistics.
Over the past few months, the Coalition has established nine working groups with several dozen participants to devise nine concrete projects that will help shape the energy sources of the future:
* Develop green hydrogen procurement solutions for the transport sector,
* Develop biofuels for the various modes of transport,
* Expand the use of biogas and synthetic gases in transport,
* Replace fossil fuels with green energy across the supply chain,
* Launch zero-emission vehicle pilot projects by the end of 2021,
* Create a digital door-to-door route planning system that calculates the option with the lowest environmental impact,
* Optimize the operational management and loading to step up the energy efficiency of each ton carried,
* Make multimodal platforms more environmentally friendly for logistics applications,
* Consolidate methods used to measure the impact of energy transition projects in transport and logistics.
The Coalition was launched in late 2019 during the French Maritime Economy Conference (_Assises de l’Economie de la Mer) _and has received the backing of French President Emmanuel Macron. The Coalition’s initial findings will be officially presented in January 2021 at the IUCN World Conservation Congress.
ABOUT AWS
For 14 years, Amazon Web Services has been the world’s most comprehensive and broadly adopted cloud platform. AWS offers over 175 fully featured services from data centers around the world.
ABOUT CARREFOUR GROUP
With a multi-format network of some 12,300 stores in more than 30 countries, the Carrefour Group is one of the world's leading food retailers. Carrefour welcomes 105 million customers throughout the world and recorded revenue of €80.7 billion in 2019. It has more than 320,000 employees who help to make Carrefour the world leader in the food transition for everyone, providing everybody with access to high-quality, affordable food every day, in all locations.
ABOUT CMA CGM
Led by Rodolphe Saadé, the CMA CGM Group is a world leader in shipping and logistics. Its 489 vessels serve more than 420 ports on five continents around the world and carried nearly 22 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) in 2019. With CEVA Logistics, a world leader in logistics services, CMA CGM handles more than 500,000 tons of airfreight and 1.9 million tons of inland freight every year.
ABOUT CLUSTER MARITIME FRANÇAIS
Since 2006, the French Maritime Cluster has been promoting France's maritime economy and supporting its key players. The CMF consists of 430 members including shipowners, shipbuilding, marine equipments, ship maintenance, repair and conversion, ports, fishing operators, manufacturers, marine competitiveness clusters, the French Navy, marine and oceanographic research, water sports, yachting, education, shipping bankers, brokers, insurers, classification service providers, etc.
ABOUT CRÉDIT AGRICOLE CORPORATE AND INVESTMENT BANK
Crédit Agricole CIB is the Corporate and Investment Banking arm of the Crédit Agricole Group, the world’s 12th largest bank in terms of Tier 1 capital (The Banker, July 2019). Nearly 8,000 employees in Europe, the Americas, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and Africa support the bank’s clients in covering their financial needs around the world. Crédit Agricole CIB offers its large corporate and institutional clients a comprehensive range of products and services in capital markets, investment banking, structured finance, commercial banking and international trade sectors.
ABOUT FAURECIA
Founded in 1997, Faurecia has grown to become a major player in the global automotive industry. With almost 300 sites including 30 R&D centers and 115,500 employees in 37 countries, Faurecia is a global leader in its four areas of business: seating, interiors, Clarion Electronics and clean mobility. Faurecia has focused its technology strategy on providing solutions for the cockpit of the future and sustainable mobility.
ABOUT MICHELIN
Michelin, the leading tire company, is dedicated to enhancing its clients’ mobility, sustainably. A global mobility leader, Michelin designs, manufactures and distributes the right tire for every customer need and use, as well as services and solutions that improve the efficiency of transportation systems.
ABOUT TOTAL
Total is a broad energy company that produces and markets fuels, natural gas and low-carbon electricity.
ABOUT WÄRTSILÄ
Wärtsilä is a global leader in smart technologies and complete lifecycle solutions for the marine and energy markets. By emphasizing sustainable innovation, total efficiency and data analytics, Wärtsilä maximizes the environmental and economic performance of the vessels and power plants of its customers. In 2019, Wärtsilä’s net sales totaled EUR 5.2 billion with approximately 19,000 employees. The company has operations in over 200 locations in more than 80 countries around the world. Wärtsilä is listed on Nasdaq Helsinki.