Scottish Government announces £2m fund to help cut HGV emissions

The Scottish Government has launched the new £2 million Heavy Goods Vehicle (HGV) Market Readiness Fund for 2025-26. This is an initiative that the Irish Government and Northern Ireland Assembly should follow.

It is designed to support HGV operators, manufacturers, financiers and charge point operators to work together to identify investment in HGV Decarbonisation – boosting the economy and reducing transport emissions associated with road freight.

This fund builds on the HGV Decarbonisation Pathway developed in 2024 and early mapping and analysis work which considered where charging infrastructure will be required to best support zero emission HGVs.

Cabinet Secretary for Transport Fiona Hyslop said: “We’re taking the experience and approach developed for bus decarbonisation and applying it to the HGV sector. But we cannot decarbonise HGVs alone, so we’re working to attract further private investment and create the conditions which will best accelerate decarbonisation at pace and scale.

“There are a large amount of SME operators in our road freight sector in Scotland. As such, we have set aside £1 million of this funding to specifically support smaller operators. No one and no sector should be left out of the opportunities created by the transition to a net zero transport system and I look forward to seeing what this new fund and approach here in Scotland will achieve.”