Rising urban freight and delivery activity in cities contributes to worsening air pollution, noise pollution, greenhouse gas emissions and traffic congestion. In addition to harming the environment and human health, these impacts disproportionately affect low-income and minority communities. In response, some cities have enacted zero-emission delivery zones (ZEDZs), which are defined as areas that permit unrestricted access only to zero-emission delivery vehicles. To inform their ZEDZ planning, policymakers can look to comparable solutions like congestion pricing, off-peak delivery and low-emission zones for applicable learnings.
This paper by World Resources Institute “Zero-Emission Delivery Zones: Decarbonizing Urban Freight and Goods Delivery in U.S. Cities” describes ZEDZs and their potential to address the negative impacts from increased urban freight and delivery. With insights from over 15 interviews of city policymakers, logistics experts, businesses and community-based organizations, this working paper evaluates real-world ZEDZ examples and offers policymakers preliminary guidelines for the enactment of effective and equitable ZEDZs.
The paper can be accessed here
