Research Idea Details

Practitioner Guidebook for Reducing Emissions from Freight Transportation

  • Focus Area: Climate Change
  • Status: Current
  • Subcommittee: Air Quality
  • Cost: $500k-$750k
  • Timeframe: 2-3 years

Research Idea Scope

This study would develop a guidebook to help practitioners identify strategies for reducing emissions from the multi-modal freight system, which is a major source of urban air pollution and a rapidly growing source of greenhouse gas emissions. This project would on existing research — which has begun to address the determinants of freight demand and mode choice—and provide a framework to help practitioners across a range of different locations target infrastructure investments, policies, and incentives to support of a more sustainable and efficient freight system. Examples include interventions to reduce bottlenecks, improve multimodal connections, and enable the utilization of lower polluting modes.

The project is expected to be conducted in two phases. The work in Phase 1 would identify both existing and emerging policies to improve the environmental sustainability of freight movement, as well as opportunities to better incorporate sustainability considerations in practitioner tools (such as FHWA’s Freight Analysis Framework). Then, Phase 2 would assess of the effectiveness of the policies identified in Phase 1 in a variety of contexts, including ports, intercity corridors, distribution centers, and local distribution networks. These findings would be summarized in a practitioner guidebook to help Departments of Transportation, Metropolitan Planning Organizations, port authorities, and their partners identify and align strategic interventions to reduce freight emissions, and (when data is available) quantify the emissions impacts of these measures. The guidebook would also include information to help agencies understand the broader effects of these interventions, including changes in congestion, supply chain reliability, safety, and public health outcomes. Ideally one or both phases of the project would be conducted in partnership with a state Department of Transportation updating its freight plan or evaluating opportunities to reduce freight GHG emissions.

Urgency and Payoff

Improving freight efficiency is an integral element of blueprints at the federal, state, and local levels to achieve climate, environmental justice and public health goals. Freight movement contributes to adverse impacts on the environment and public health, particularly through urban air pollution, which disproportionally impacts low income and disadvantaged communities that are more likely to be located near freight facilities or major highways. Freight also accounts for 32 percent of total U.S. transportation GHG emissions and has been one of the most rapidly growing sources of U.S. carbon pollution from any sector. Between 1990 and 2022, GHG emissions from freight emissions increased by 61 percent, compared to 8 percent for passenger sources and a 3 percent decrease for the entire U.S. economy. Despite the imperative to reduce freight emissions, relatively little research has been conducted on planning and policy mechanisms to improve reduce emissions from a multi-modal perspective, with many studies focused on opportunities for reducing emissions within a single mode, or the theoretical emissions reductions of switching from one mode to another. It is expected that this study will contribute to better targeted, coordinated, and effective policy approaches to including freight in transportation planning decisions.

Suggested By:
John Davies
[email protected]
Submitted:
05/31/2024