Sustainable Fuel Buyers’ Principles

Support low-carbon, sustainable fuel choices

The rise of multiple fuels means a poly-fuel future, but each fleet has unique needs. It is important for suppliers to continually produce more sustainable, low-carbon fuels, vehicle technologies, and infrastructure, preferably in consultation with the buyers who will invest in them.

Demonstrate competitivenes

For sustainable, low-carbon fuels to rapidly expand, they need to be competitive with existing solutions. Buyers must be able to assess technologies based on financials that accurately capture the total cost of ownership and fully understand the comprehensive costs and benefits of different types of fuels to support the case for new investments.

Advance investment, pilots, and standardization

Long-term capital investment can be difficult to justify absent certainty around supporting infrastructure and standards. Buyers are open to mutually beneficial, strategic opportunities that help to facilitate investments, pilots, and standardization across the value chain. Both bilateral and collaborative efforts will help to overcome these barriers and ensure progress toward enduring solutions.

Measurably improve well-to-wheels climate impacts

To justify investments that support progress toward climate goals, buyers must be able to fully understand emissions that contribute to climate change across the full fuel lifecycle and measure improvements with standardized methodologies and metrics.

Address other relevant sustainability impacts and benefits

All fuels produce other social and environmental impacts throughout their lifecycles. Buyers seek suppliers that demonstrate they address the most material impacts of their products through highest regulatory norms, market standards and certifications, and adoption of global social and environmental standards.

Invest in R&D breakthroughs

Both existing and disruptive solutions will be required to meet the sustainable freight challenge. Investments to proactively, continuously, and with a long-term view develop technologies that lower the climate and other sustainability impacts of fuels should be the norm.

Collaborate for systemic solutions

Transformational change brings risk and uncertainty that collaboration can help address. Freight leaders seek transparency and industry-wide collaborations with their value chain partners and other stakeholders to make systemic improvements in the freight system. In particular, strong engagement with collaborations that actively support progress toward low-carbon, sustainable fuels and related technologies will be crucial to success.