Tranquil City has recently finished its second project with the Cross River Partnership (CRP). We supported the CRP deliverBEST programme by producing the Transport Emission Calculator (TEC) which estimates the emission reductions that can be achieved by the measures promoted in the programme. The calculator is an internal tool for the CRP to use as part of its engagement activities with local businesses, but our friends at Outlandish have created an online version to promote the support that the CRP provides.
Movement of freight and deliveries in London has a significant impact on air quality and carbon emissions. This is an issue that needs careful consideration with the proliferation of rapid and next-day delivery services. Freight movements represent 15% of total vehicle miles travelled in London, but 34% of nitrogen oxides (NOX) and 27% of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) emissions from road transport come from freight vehicles. Freight and deliveries also account for a quarter of London’s total carbon emissions from transport [1].
The Tranquil City Transport Emission Impact Calculator enables emission calculation of the effects of a variety of options to reduce emissions from deliveries which the CRP is promoting as part of its work to improve air quality in London.
Options that can reduce the air quality effects of deliveries include making deliveries when roads are less congested, consolidating deliveries into fewer loads, and switching to zero-emission modes. Active travel options include walking, cycling and push or E-cargo bikes. We also included options to consider the effects of consolidating loads and using rail or river transport.
Calculation of emissions for road freight trips is undertaken using data taken from Defra’s Emissions Factors Toolkit (EFT). Rail and river vessel emission factors have been calculated using data from the National Atmospheric Emissions Inventory (NAEI) alongside Department for Transport DfT statistics.
Given the complexity of making deliveries in London, CRP asked us to include the functionality to estimate emissions from multi-modal journeys. Emissions are calculated using a combination of multiple emission factors depending on the length travelled using each mode.
There is a public-facing tool (found here) that provides a basic emissions calculation for businesses and local authorities, where CRP can offer more in-depth analysis using our revised Transport Emission Calculator tool.
Check out the online version of the tool for yourself at transportemissions.london!
References
1 – Centre for London (2021) Worth the Weight: Making London’s deliveries greener and smarter. Available at: https://www.centreforlondon.org/publication/freight-deliveries-london/