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GENERAL LOGISTICSSUSTAINABLE LOGISTICSCLIMATE CHANGEFREIGHT TRANSPORTINFRASTRUCTURE AND PROPERTY- Downloads
7 December 2016
OECD / ITF Workshop Cambridge
Cambridge 7 December 2016
Road freight efficiency versus freight modal split: reconciling environmental objectives
Two of the most important and widely-promoted measures to decarbonise freight transport appear to be in conflict. On the one hand, efforts are being made to improve the carbon efficiency of road transport, which is by far the dominant freight mode. On the other, companies are being encouraged to shift freight from road to lower-carbon rail and waterborne modes. The conflict arises because efficiency improvements in road transport make it more competitive, frustrating the efforts of alternative modes to capture a larger share of the freight market.
The workshop, organised as part of a new OECD / ITF study of high capacity transport, examined ways of reconciling the apparent conflict between road efficiency improvements and modal split as decarbonisation options. Fundamental to this reconciliation is the cross-elasticity of demand for road and rail / water-borne services – in other words how sensitive is the demand for alternative, lower-carbon modes to variations in the price of road haulage. Details of the event can be found here.
I gave an introductory presentation to set the scene and moderated an afternoon session on directions for future research on this topic.
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