Sustainability Transitions: Decarbonising Road Freight Transportation in Australia

Abstract

Logistics and freight transportation contribute significantly to Australia's greenhouse gas emissions. Vehicular emissions from commercial trucks are projected to increase as cities in Australia expand to accommodate the rise in population, thus contributing to climate change and negatively impacting the well-being of urban dwellers. Zero-emission trucks (ZETs) are an important tool to decarbonize road freight transportation and thus may prove to be critical for the Australian climate mitigation strategy and in achieving the net-zero emissions target of 2050. Despite the potential visible benefits of ZETs in the logistics industry, the adoption of zero-emission trucks is still in its infancy in the country. There is a gap in transport geography literature about freight transport and data about the stance of logistic businesses as potential ZET adopters and policy stakeholders regarding the uptake of ZETs. Therefore, the core objective of the thesis is to identify and analyze the influence of socio-technical, economic, policy, and other factors on the uptake of zero-emission trucks (ZETs) in Australia. This research has adopted a mixed qualitative approach including semi-structured interviews with key stakeholder groups, participant observation, and critical analysis of policy documents. The mixed-method approach to the research facilitated a deeper understanding of stakeholders’ perceptions and identified the underlying opportunities and challenges influencing the uptake and investment in ZETs within the country’s logistics and freight sector across the landscape, regime, and niche levels. The thesis covers a pivotal gap in the MLP framework by including policy stakeholders while overcoming the limited interest of transport geography literature in freight transportation. The thesis concludes by making several policy suggestions targeting zero-emission trucks alongside a much-needed integrated approach to road freight transport policy across Australian jurisdictions.