Scania West Africa is collaborating with TotalEnergies Marketing Côte d’Ivoire, ANADER, LA SIR and SOTRA to launch a biodiesel pilot in Abidjan, the capital of Côte d’Ivoire.
This pilot aims to reduce emissions from public transport and create jobs through locally produced biofuels.
Using biofuel as biodiesel lowers carbon emissions by up to 80%, and by even more when used as biogas. Scania consequently asserts that biofuels sustainably produced from waste are currently the best option for rapidly reducing emissions from public transport systems in Africa.
This launch builds on Scania’s partnership with Agence Nationale d’Appui au Développement Rural (ANADER), which was launched in 2017 to support rural development in Côte d’Ivoire through the production of biofuels from cocoa, rubber and other agricultural waste and animal manure.
In July 2022, ANADER, Scania and TotalEnergies signed an agreement to develop a pilot project that would produce 3,500 litres of FAME biodiesel from rubber seeds to be tested for 30 days in a Scania bus operated by local Abidjan transport company, SOTRA. This pilot will now be launched in Abidjan.
Over the past year, Scania has delivered 400 biodiesel-compatible standard buses and 50 biogas-compatible articulated buses to SOTRA. This is part of its Sustainable Transport Project with the Côte d’Ivoire Ministry of Transport.
The second phase of the project will now involve the construction of a new bus depot and a Bus Rapid Transit corridor.
Nicolas Lougovoy, Head of Strategic Projects for the Africa, Middle East and Central Asia region at Scania said:Together with our partners, we adopted a holistic and step-by-step approach to reduce the carbon footprint and air pollution from our buses.
Combining Bus Rapid Transit and buses powered by locally produced biofuel from waste will multiply the positive social and environmental impacts by generating local jobs, extra incomes and significantly reducing carbon footprint and air pollution. We are proud to be part of this innovative and sustainable solution that will benefit both the people of the city and the planet.
