Green corridors for freight decarbonisation: an end in themselves, or a step towards collaborative end-to-end logistics?

A better understanding of how freight networks can become both environmentally sustainable and commercially viable

I am proud to be working with F&L on my MSc research at Cranfield University on the topic “Green corridors for freight decarbonisation: an end in themselves, or a step towards collaborative end-to-end logistics?”

Key questions

With F&L I am looking at key questions.  Do green corridors represent the most effective long-term solution for decarbonising freight on their own?  Or should they be viewed as a step towards more integrated, collaborative end-to-end (E2E) logistics across the supply chain?  Has the sector become embroiled in a conversation about optimising the green corridor (why, and for whose gain?) rather than optimising our freight flows in a way which we can sustain long term?  Given that road has in any case become more “green”, is a green corridor even as relevant now as it was, or will be in 3, 5, 10 years?  Is a green corridor an essential step forward, or a distortion for the whole journey because it is incentivised?  Does it take attention away from a shipper’s efforts to create an end-to-end multimodal supply chain using the best mix of modes from start to end?  Who wins from a green corridor today?  What really matters?  Rather than focusing solely on emissions reduction of part of a journey, I am also exploring the balance between environmental sustainability, operational costs, service reliability, and supply chain resilience as these viewed as critical by shippers and cargo owners who require their product to be wherever it needs to be whenever it needs to be there.

Context

Green corridors are a rather old concept going back around 20 years to the EU’s Freight Logistics Action Plan.  They were given a ‘reboot’ a couple of years ago by the Movin’on industry consortium which re-designated them ‘decarbonisation corridors’.  Its report provided a summary of the initiative and argued that it could play an important role in achieving EU carbon reduction targets for transport.  At its core is freight modal shift / inter-modality which, on the whole, and as in so many previous initiatives of this type, have yielded disappointing results.

Practical insights from shippers, logistics service providers, technology providers, and other industry stakeholders is helping to identify the opportunities and challenges associated with green corridors and collaborative freight logistics. The findings which we will share with F&L Members aim to contribute to a better understanding of how freight networks can become both environmentally sustainable and commercially viable over the longer term.

Francis Rahul Tirkey
Cranfield University
July 2026