Climate mitigation and adaptation strategies in the transport sector: An empirical investigation in Germany

Abstract

Due to climate change, extreme weather events will increase in intensity, frequency, and duration in the future, negatively impacting logistics and transport systems. The threat of missing climate targets and a lack of climate adaptivity strategies in the transport sector leads to growing climate-related risks for transportation companies. The present paper provides a qualitative study exploring mitigation and adaptation strategies within the logistics sector. It analyzes the challenges transportation companies face in developing climate-neutral business models and adapting to the consequences of climate change. Our results show that logistics companies need to be more prepared for the consequences of climate change and, at the same time, insufficiently address climate change mitigation, making the sector more vulnerable to climate extremes in the future. A transformation framework is developed to assess the logistics firms’ climate protection measures and climate adaptation strategies while highlighting existing development lags in climate mitigation and climate adaptation. Moreover, possible future strategies to combat climate risks in the sector are pathed.