Decarbonization and freight transport planning

This chapter discusses the potential of spatial and urban planning interventions to help decarbonize freight transport activities. Against a background of continuing growth and individualization of demand, decarbonization of freight transport services is a daunting challenge. The pursuit of decarbonization can take place along different strategic lines including reduction of transport demand, a shift between modes of transport, increase of efficiency of vehicle movements, reduction of energy use of vehicles and reduction of the carbon content of energy. Instruments of collective or public freight planning that can support these strategies include land use planning for logistics activities, freight transport demand management, investments in freight transport infrastructure including ITS, and regulatory and financial policies. Based on the literature we explore the above relationships, leading to a simple conceptual framework that links the decarbonization strategies to the instruments of freight transport planning. Urgent areas of future work include the design of multi-strategy roadmaps to achieve decarbonization targets, and the assessment of the effectiveness of combined freight planning measures.