This report is one of four that the ITF commissioned as part of its Strategic Infrastructure Programme in Asia (SIPA). The previous three reports separately examined freight transport aspects of connectivity (by Ruth Banomyong), resilience (by Jasper Verschuur) and decarbonisation (by me).  While the regional context for the analyses is Asia, much of the content of the reports is generic and applicable to other parts of the world

This fourth report examines the inter-relationships between connectivity, decarbonisation and resilience in the development of freight transport systems.  Research, strategic planning and public policy-making on these three entities has tended to be siloed.  By making the inter-dependences between them more explicit, this new report should help policy-makers and planners to exploit potential synergies and manage trade-offs more effectively.

I identified a total of 35 interconnections between connectivity, decarbonisation and resilience and classified them into three categories: synergistic, conflicting and hybrid. Two-thirds of them appear to be in the first category, suggesting that efforts to enhance connectivity and resilience and to reduce emissions are, in most cases, mutually reinforcing. Only four of the inter-relationships (11%) are likely to involve a trade-off on every occasion, while eight (23%) could be either synergistic or conflicting, depending on particular circumstances. In the case of these hybrid relationships, appropriate policy measures should help to mitigate potentially adverse effects.

All four reports can be downloaded here.

The recording of an interview that I gave on the content of the fourth report is available on the ITF YouTube channel. 

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