Chapter 2
The Influence of Logistics Decisions
on Transport Decarbonization: Lessons
from Local to Global Scale
Lóránt Tavasszy
Abstract One of the proposed approaches to decarbonize freight transport systems
is to internalize the environmental costs of transport, by means of carbon emissionbased taxes. The expected impact is a reduction of transport demand and an
increased use of environmentally friendly transport technologies. The magnitude
of the impact will depend on the levels of taxation, the activities to which they apply
and the degrees of freedom allowed to companies to react to the taxes. In this chapter
we explore the impact mechanisms of carbon taxes by investigating the reorganization responses of freight decision-makers. We do this through a series of empirical
cases of recent modelling studies at city, corridor, country, continent and global
level. The city case involves an application of an agent-based model to evaluate a
carbon credit point system for city logistics. The corridor case involves carbon
pricing of container transport in the hinterland of the port of Rotterdam over a
multimodal network. The country and continental cases describe the effects of
network-wide truck charging, with a focus on mode choice, vehicle type and routing.
The global case concerns a full economic impact analysis of internalization of
external costs of supply chains, also looking at the effect of changes in sourcing
decisions of companies. We draw lessons concerning the impacts of logistics
decisions on the impact of policies and identify needs for further research. Common
findings relevant for climate change policy include the following: (1) prices needed
to achieve a significant impact are a multiple of current market prices, (2) logistics
decisions may act as buffer for the propagation of taxes towards consumers and, as a
result, (3) the ultimate price impacts for consumers could remain small. In order to be
able to predict impacts of climate policies, there is a need to continue research on the
way companies take logistics decisions. This includes decisions in specific areas or
logistics, but also on decision processes, to better understand the dynamics of impact
pathways.
L. Tavasszy (*)
Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands
e-mail: L.A.Tavasszy@tudelft.nl
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
J. Rezaei (ed.), Strategic Decision Making for Sustainable Management of Industrial
Networks, Greening of Industry Networks Studies 8,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-55385-2_2
15
The Influence of Logistics Decisions
on Transport Decarbonization: Lessons
from Local to Global Scale
Lóránt Tavasszy
Abstract One of the proposed approaches to decarbonize freight transport systems
is to internalize the environmental costs of transport, by means of carbon emissionbased taxes. The expected impact is a reduction of transport demand and an
increased use of environmentally friendly transport technologies. The magnitude
of the impact will depend on the levels of taxation, the activities to which they apply
and the degrees of freedom allowed to companies to react to the taxes. In this chapter
we explore the impact mechanisms of carbon taxes by investigating the reorganization responses of freight decision-makers. We do this through a series of empirical
cases of recent modelling studies at city, corridor, country, continent and global
level. The city case involves an application of an agent-based model to evaluate a
carbon credit point system for city logistics. The corridor case involves carbon
pricing of container transport in the hinterland of the port of Rotterdam over a
multimodal network. The country and continental cases describe the effects of
network-wide truck charging, with a focus on mode choice, vehicle type and routing.
The global case concerns a full economic impact analysis of internalization of
external costs of supply chains, also looking at the effect of changes in sourcing
decisions of companies. We draw lessons concerning the impacts of logistics
decisions on the impact of policies and identify needs for further research. Common
findings relevant for climate change policy include the following: (1) prices needed
to achieve a significant impact are a multiple of current market prices, (2) logistics
decisions may act as buffer for the propagation of taxes towards consumers and, as a
result, (3) the ultimate price impacts for consumers could remain small. In order to be
able to predict impacts of climate policies, there is a need to continue research on the
way companies take logistics decisions. This includes decisions in specific areas or
logistics, but also on decision processes, to better understand the dynamics of impact
pathways.
L. Tavasszy (*)
Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands
e-mail: L.A.Tavasszy@tudelft.nl
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
J. Rezaei (ed.), Strategic Decision Making for Sustainable Management of Industrial
Networks, Greening of Industry Networks Studies 8,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-55385-2_2
15