Promoting sustainable urban freight through stakeholder engagement to co-create decarbonisation pathways in the UK

Abstract

The contribution of greenhouse gas emissions from UK urban freight is growing in absolute terms, but the existence of alternative technology options means the urban part of the freight system has potential for relatively early decarbonisation. However, barriers are limiting the speed and extent of uptake. Indeed, freight decarbonisation is a sociotechnical challenge. Behaviour change is usually required to facilitate technological change. For this reason, stakeholders are central to processes of identifying pathways to decarbonisation. The paper reports findings from two projects undertaken in the UK in 2020–21 which examined how stakeholder engagement on freight decarbonisation could be enhanced to promote the process of identifying pathways through co-creation. The projects involved the conduct of literature reviews, stakeholder mapping exercises, and stakeholder engagement in coproduction workshops. The stakeholder mapping and engagement process led to the identification of groups of actors which were relatively easy and hard to include. Engagement and interaction were found to be promoted in some respects by the need to conduct the data collection remotely rather than in presence, and by building on established networks. In terms of the identification of pathways, stakeholders showed mixed levels of knowledge. Uncertainty about the future was generally high, with perceived risks being important. Nonetheless, short, medium and long-term pathway features were identified, with electrification playing a key role in the long term. However, the need for strong multilevel governance providing a clear regulatory framework and incentives for change was perceived by stakeholders overall to be more significant than a particular technology. The paper concludes with an agenda for further research.