The difficult road to decarbonizing the freight transport sector: A participatory exploration for Flanders

With the Paris climate agreement in 2015 and further followed up in the other COPs, concrete
commitments were taken to reduce greenhouse gases. The ambition level for Flanders is high and the
route to lower emissions is not yet clear, not even for freight transport. In this paper we examine which
measures are the most promising for the transport sector to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Because
of the strong link, the impact of these measures on air-polluting emissions is also taken into consideration.
The scope of the study focuses on the greenhouse gas emissions from road freight transport, inland
navigation and rail traffic and the reduction ambitions by 2030 are examined, with attention for the longterm ambitions (2050).
The aim of the study is to come up with a 'roadmap': a roadmap that indicates the most cost-efficient,
logical and feasible way to achieve the climate ambitions in time. This roadmap serves as a basis for the
political and social debate on measures for the transport of goods.
Next to the scientific analysis of the possible impact of the measures, support for possible measures is an
important part of this study. Therefore, at various moments during the study trajectory, input is requested
from various stakeholders. A first form of input was collected via an online survey in which the feasibility
and impact of various measures were assessed. The results of this survey were included and deepened in
the further research process.
In the research process, the support and feasibility of the measures identified were also further
investigated through a multi-actor multi-criteria analysis (MAMCA) workshop. This MAMCA methodology
maps the impact of the various emission-reducing measures on the relevant criteria of the stakeholders
involved. This allows a more nuanced picture of the potential implementation barriers and therefore also
the feasibility of the measures at stakeholder level. The results of this MAMCA workshop are the subject of
this paper.