Zero-emission bus transport

Case
Smart sustainable transport

Transition management

European Investment Bank (EIB), Fuel Cell Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (FCH JU), Climate KIC, Dutch Ministry for Transport and Environment, Foundation for Zero Emission Bus Transport, 6 provinces and 6 local authorities AkzoNobel, CNG-Net, Connexxion, Qbuzz, Van Peeperstraten Group

The transition to sustainable transport combined with renewable energy sources is a worldwide challenge. Twynstra supports this transition by being closely involved in sustainable transport programmes in the Netherlands. One example of our involvement is our support of the transition to a zero-emission bus fleet (5,000 in total) in the Netherlands by 2025, using the current level of public funding. We managed this transition process.

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A clear vision

Transition management starts with a clear vision of the future. This vision needs to be achievable and shared by all of the parties involved. Our vision is for the Netherlands to be able to achieve the Paris Agreement goals and in doing so enable the country to cope with climate change. We also envision a healthier population and an improved economy. We strive to realise this by collaborating with public and private parties and other consultancies.

The challenge

To achieve this transition to zero-emission bus transport, we started by setting up a foundation for zero-emission buses together with some partners. This Foundation for Zero-Emission Bus Transport has an advisory board consisting of all the important players: national and local governments, research institutions, public and private transport operators, bus manufacturing companies and their suppliers, representatives from multiple sector organisations, financing bodies, consumer interest groups, environmental organisations and more. We managed this foundation for a period of at least 2.5 years.

 

To effect this transition, the foundation closed a ‘green deal’ with the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment and the two provinces in the south of the Netherlands. In this deal, the parties agreed to strive for a zero-emission bus fleet by 2025 and influence other parties to participate. This green deal acted as a catalyst for the transition.

The Foundation for Zero-Emission Bus Transport also received a so-called ELENA (European Local Energy Assistance) from the European Investment Bank (EIB) for a period of three years. In this period, the EIB contributed €2 million to processes, with the aim of private parties investing €50 million in the energy transition. This will be achieved with the procurement of almost 400 new zero-emission busses for the southern provinces in the next 10 years. Twynstra also worked with both public and private parties on the development of a total cost of ownership model, including societal effects, for the Foundation for Zero-Emission Bus Transport.

Public-private partnerships

  • In addition to our involvement with the Foundation for Zero-Emission Bus Transport, we have also worked for the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment on building a supported roll-out and finance strategy for the transition
  • We also set up public-private partnerships to run pilots using battery-electric and hydrogen-fuelled busses. We arrange the governance structure, connect stakeholders and construct the business cases
  • We were also hired by a European public-private partnership called the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking to organise a joint procurement between public and private parties for 100 hydrogen-fuelled busses in the Benelux.

Approach

We were and still are committed to doing the utmost to realise a clear vision for this transition to zero-emission bus transport. We have implemented transition management using a variety of skills:

  • Organisation management: we developed the governance structure for both the foundation and the pilots
  • Programme management: from the initiation of the project, we developed a clear vision and collaborative approach with all public and private parties, which we managed for at least 2.5 years
  • Stakeholder analysis and management: we implemented several stakeholder management methods to be able to manage such a programme in cooperation with all the stakeholders
  • Managing projects and pilots: project management and building business cases
  • Managing change: realising a new vision and implementing this through change management
  • Developing a total cost of ownership model and building business cases.