Etsy is deploying Class 8 battery-electric trucks in Texas as the marketplace looks to reach net-zero emissions by 2040, Sam Brundrett, environmental impact lead at Etsy, told Supply Chain Dive.
The company is one of several shippers piloting the deployment of Class 8 zero-emissions trucks in the state to decarbonize heavy-duty trucking. The pilot, done in partnership with the Center for Green Market Activation (GMA) and Smart Freight Centre, was initially announced in January. The coalition also includes Amazon, eBay, Green Worldwide Shipping, Meta, and most recently, Google. With Google, the project has 63 members and is set to launch in early 2027.
“As a marketplace, we facilitate millions of shipments each year. Shipping is our largest source of emissions at over 60%! Road freight accounts for most of our shipping footprint,” Brundrett said in an email. By 2030, the company aims to lower its scope 3 emissions per dollar of gross profit by 52% from its 2020 baseline.
Through GMA’s pilot procurement program, members such as Etsy pay for the right to claim Environmental Attribute Certificates (EACs), which are certificates that companies can claim in their greenhouse gas reporting, Clayton Gerber, senior program manager at GMA, told Supply Chain Dive in an email.
“The certificates help cover the additional cost of operating electric trucks compared with diesel trucks,” Brundrett said.
These EACs are paid by the shipper or those that have shipping activity as part of their value chain. The buyers of the certificates are funding zero-emission trucking deployment without needing their own freight to move on a specific truck or lane.
The EACs are generated by a carrier procuring battery-electric trucks, having access to charging infrastructure, and have renewable energy contracts as needed to deploy zero-emission services, Gerber said. In this pilot, Nevoya has been the selected carrier with plans to deploy new trucks late this year and early 2027.
Nevoya has been working with Greenlane Infrastructure, a joint venture dedicated to spreading public fast-charging networks, in getting charging infrastructure established while waiting for delivery of the trucks with the second procurement to launch in 2027.
The GMA pilot is focused on the Houston-Dallas route due to significant freight volumes moving in both directions between the two cities, Gerber said.
Other factors include the low cost of electricity in Texas and the ease in permitting and accessing power at the charging locations. The total roundtrip between Houston and Dallas was also within the expected battery range of a Tesla Semi, which was selected for this project.
Texas is also a significant market for Etsy as millions of shipments move through the state each year, Brundrett said.
“[E]lectrifying freight there can both reduce our emissions in a geography where we have significant freight and reduce local air pollution for communities where many Etsy buyers and sellers live and work,” he added.
Etsy’s initial term with GMA is four years and is not tied to specific volumes of freight from the marketplace or particular shipments. Etsy’s commitment is to a defined volume of zero-emission trucking certificates, which are measured in tonne-kilometers, Brundrett said.
While Etsy does not own its own fleet of trucks, a book-and-claim program like the one offered by GMA is one way the company is not only working to reduce its own emissions but increase demand for zero-emission freight as market barriers limit access to zero-emission freight services.
Currently, heavy-duty trucks make up about 9% of U.S. trucks but produce half of truck emissions. Zero-emission Class 8 trucks account for less than 1% of new sales in the U.S., according to Brundrett.
Barriers of entry include higher costs and limited charging infrastructure. Hours of service regulation also create barriers, especially when it can take 45 minutes to charge a battery-electric truck.
