Cargo routing and disadvantaged communities

Freight is fundamental to economic growth, however, the trucks that haul
this freight are pollution intensive, emitting criteria pollutants and
greenhouse gases at high rates. The increasing volume and time-sensitivity
of freight demand over the past decade has encouraged carriers to take the
fastest route, which is often not an eco-friendly route. The increase in
urban freight movement has thus brought along negative externalities such
as congestion, emissions, and noise into cities. Alternative fuel
technologies, such as electric trucks and hydrogen-fuel trucks can
significantly reduce freight-related emissions. However, despite their
lower operational costs, the high purchase cost and consequent longer
payback periods compared to traditional vehicles, have resulted in slow
adoption rates. Since the need to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions
and local criteria pollutants is immediate, accounting for externalities
in carriers’ tactical and operational decision-making in the form of
eco-routing can bring about desired reductions in emissions. The
objectives of this work are to explore the possibilities and potential of
eco-routing from the perspective of the carrier, in terms of cost-benefits
and trade-offs, and from the perspective of the regulator, in terms of
network-wide effects and policy initiatives that could encourage carriers
to eco-route. This study evaluates reduction in global greenhouse
emissions and local criteria pollutants, with a particular focus on direct
impacts on disadvantaged communities in the Southern California
Association of Governments (SCAG) region.

货运是经济增长的基础，但运输这些货物的卡车污染强度高，大量排放标准污染物和温室气体。过去十年，货运需求的规模不断扩大且时间敏感性日益增强，促使承运人选择最快路线，而这类路线往往并非环保路线。因此，城市货运量的增长给城市带来了拥堵、排放和噪音等负外部性。替代燃料技术（如电动卡车和氢燃料卡车）可显著减少货运相关排放。然而，尽管其运营成本较低，但与传统车辆相比，较高的购置成本及由此导致的更长投资回报期，使得其采用率（adoption rate）较低。鉴于减少全球温室气体排放和本地标准污染物的需求迫在眉睫，通过环保路线规划（eco-routing）的形式将外部性纳入承运人战术和运营决策中，可实现预期的减排效果。本研究的目标是从承运人视角（聚焦成本效益与权衡取舍）及监管者视角（关注全网效应与可鼓励承运人采用环保路线规划的政策举措），探索环保路线规划的可能性与潜力。本研究评估了全球温室气体排放和本地标准污染物的减排情况，并特别关注对南加州政府协会（Southern California Association of Governments, SCAG）区域内弱势社区的直接影响。