Sustainable Freight Transport and Green Logistics

Dear Colleagues,

Increases in road vehicles (both passenger and freight), aviation, and shipping were the leading factors behind the global growth in transport CO₂ emissions between 2000 and 2018. Transport accounted for 14% of the total global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in 2018, 40% being freight transport, while trucks represented the major share (75%) growing by 39% from 2000 to 2020.

The COVID-19 pandemic has transformed mobility patterns (for people and freight) in every part of the world. Despite the pandemic’s impact on transport demand (it fell by nearly 20% in 2020), transport emissions are still not on the right track as it this area constituted the fastest-growing fossil-fuel-combustion sector worldwide from 2010 to 2019, and it has still been growing from 2021. To meet the Paris Agreement targets and to keep the rise in the average global temperature below 1.5 degrees Celsius (°C), transport emissions will need to drop two-thirds below the levels in 2019, and an enormous effort will be necessary based on best practices and concrete actions.

As one of the main logistic functions—besides stock management, warehousing, and purchase orders—and the most fossil-fuel-intensive, the management of freight transport greenhouse gas emissions plays an important role in the practice of green logistics.

This Special Issue of Sustainability is dedicated to high-level contributions to research and practices that improve sustainability in supply chains and promote green logistics by the reduction in GHG and atmospheric-pollutant emissions, noise, solid and liquid waste, while improving social and humanitarian aspects through balancing economic, environmental, and social factors and encouraging the ESG (environmental, social, and governance) approach.

The authors are encouraged to consider, but are not limited to:

• Conceptual innovative discussion that improves the knowledge on green logistics (GL) and sustainable supply chains (SSC);
• Conceptual innovative discussion that places green logistics (GL) and sustainable supply chains (SSC) in the framework of the green economy and circular economy.
• Best practices to reduce GHG emissions in freight transport, warehousing, and purchase order.
• Best practices to reduce atmospheric-pollutant emissions in freight transport and warehousing.
• Best practices to reduce noise, solid, and liquid waste in the supply chain.
• ESG (environmental, social, and governance) approach to green logistics and sustainable supply chains.
• Urban logistic from a sustainable approach.
• Sustainable, low-emission, and zero-emission freight transport.
• Freight transport in green logistics and sustainable supply chains.
• Electromobility (freight).
• The use of biofuels in freight transport (all transport modes).
• The use of green hydrogen (H₂) in freight transport.
• Improvements in conventional-fossil-fuel use to reduce GEE emissions in freight transport.
• Sustainable approach of micromobility—bicycles, scooters, motorcycles—as part of a sustainable transportation system for freight.
• Active transportation systems—walking and use of bicycles and tricycles for freight transport.
• Advanced propulsion system technologies for light-duty vehicles and trucks (battery electric vehicles—BEV; hybrid vehicles—electric and/or hydraulic systems; plug-in hybrid electric vehicles—PHEV; combined technologies—wired and wireless electric vehicles).
• Advanced propulsion system technologies and fuels for aquatic and air transportation (hybrid-drive ships, modern ship sails for combined propulsion, wind and solar energy use in ships and planes, hydrogen use in ships and planes).
• Completely advanced transportation systems for freight such as drones and hyperloop.
• The use of widely comprehensive tools such as life cycle assessment (LCA) or well-to-wheel (WTW) approach are welcome, but not mandatory.

Prof. Dr. Márcio de Almeida D'Agosto
Guest Editor

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• green logistics
• sustainable supply chain
• green freight
• sustainable freight
• green warehousing
• green order processing
• energy transition for freight
• freight electrification
• green economy
• circular economy