Scania UK: Engineering the transition

As heavy industry in the UK and Sweden races to decarbonise, the focus is shifting from pilots to scalable, commercially viable solutions. In this Q&A, we asked Amy Moore, Head of Sustainability, Scania UK, where she sees the biggest near-term opportunities to cut emissions – and what needs to change across technology, regulation and value chains to unlock full-scale roll-out.

Across your UK and Swedish operations, where do you see the biggest near-term opportunities to cut emissions, and which technologies are you prioritising to deliver them at scale?

Tackling decarbonisation is the big topic, as is how to do it well. At Scania, our focus is on heat and fleet to deliver the biggest cuts to our operational emissions, and to meet our ambitious sustainability targets. In the UK, our new Learning Academy is being installed with solar panels, an energy storage battery and the latest heat pump technology. While our courtesy cars and service vans are now electric. But the biggest challenge is working with our customers. We want to play a supporting advisor role throughout their decarbonisation journey. Our end goal is making their fleets fully electric, but we value the important role low carbon and renewable fuels will play throughout the transition.

For heavy industry’s green transition, what needs to work differently between the UK and Sweden – from regulation to customers and suppliers – to move more projects from pilots to full commercial roll-out?

There needs to be better utilisation of the knowledge, learnings and expertise Sweden has gained through its own electrification journey to help influence UK legislation, regulation and innovation.  The transport and logistics sector is heavily focused on decarbonisation, and the truth is, in the UK, we are very much behind most of Europe. This is down to not having a supportive legislative framework or the correct enabling factors – like a solid EV infrastructure and subsidised charging costs – to stimulate growth. Which is why we need to take inspiration from Sweden. By doing so, it can help address the key barriers to adoption and avoid us installing legislative measures that prohibit, rather than encourage, innovation of our sector or growth of the economy.