During the ICLEI World Congress 2018, in Montreal, the five South American cities of the ICLEI Network that will be supported by the international project were announced. EcoLogistics: Low-Carbon Freight Transport for Sustainable Cities which aims to support the development of sustainable solutions for urban freight, impacting national and local policies and plans for the urban freight sector. In Argentina, the cities of Rosario and Santa Fe were selected and, in Colombia, Bogotá, Manizales and the Aburrá Valley Metropolitan Area, the metropolitan region of Medellín, were included.

Currently, urban freight accounts for up to 25% of vehicles in cities, occupies 40% of motorised road space and contributes up to 40% of CO2 emissions related to urban transport. Urban freight includes a wide variety of services, ranging from refuse collection lorries to construction lorries or commercial vehicles. Today, a growing number of cities are including urban freight in their plans to reduce emissions.

Funded by the International Climate Initiative of the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (IKI/BMU), the project will involve governments from Argentina, Colombia and India to address this issue over the next four years (2018-2021). During this period, participating cities will receive technical and methodological support to develop updated diagnostics on urban freight transport, introduce emissions monitoring tools in the sector, and establish multi-stakeholder working groups for discussion. By 2021, the aim is for the eight cities to have implemented demonstrative pilot projects, gathered information to analyse future trends, and ultimately be able to develop and/or influence the creation of local and national policies to address the issue, aligned with climate and resilience policies. In South America, the project is partnered with the consultancy Despacio.

Implementing an initiative like this in two South American countries is of extreme relevance, given that it is one of the regions with the highest rates of urbanisation and significant growth of metropolitan regions in the last decade, states Igor Reis de Albuquerque, ICLEI South America's climate change manager. “Flows between regions and the demand for logistics services have been growing, and impact not only greenhouse gas emission levels but also the economy and the well-being of citizens,” explained Albuquerque. Engaging capital cities, economic hubs, and populous metropolitan regions such as Bogotá, Manizales, and Valle de Aburrá, as well as logistics hubs in port or agricultural production regions, as is the case with Rosario and Santa Fe, is very important not only for developing policies and pilot projects but also for bringing the topic of sustainable transport to a sector that has not fully adopted this perspective. “EcoLogistics is important, particularly for bringing the aspect of integrated planning together with national governments, so that urban freight and logistics issues are not simply confined to one region but can be expanded across the territory.”.

Globally, it is identified that the transport sector most frequently represents the most greenhouse gas emission-intensive sector in the urban context, as is the case in the Argentinian city of Santa Fe. Upon identifying this diagnosis, Pablo Tabares, director of the Santa Fe agency for cooperation, investment, and foreign trade, wants to explore synergies between the freight transport sector and the resilience and risk management plans already developed by the city: “We want to leverage other experiences, which will allow us to act upon the diagnoses we have for the sector,” he stated. Identifying international best practices and guidelines on urban freight transport is also one of the motivations for the Metropolitan Area of the Aburrá Valley (AMVA) to participate. “Our participation in this project will allow us, firstly, to place the issue of health at the centre of the agenda; secondly, the issue of air quality, a central theme of our comprehensive PIGECA plan; and thirdly, ways to mobilise the freight transport issue in our territory,” explained Pablo Maturana, deputy director of cooperation and agreements at AMVA, which is the environmental and transport authority for the 10 municipalities in the metropolitan region of Medellín.

For the cities of Bogotá and Rosario, the project is an opportunity to increase the efficiency of the transport of goods and services that are essential for the local population and economy. “For Bogotá, it is essential to develop collective actions that improve mobility conditions and increase logistics efficiency, involving the participation of private and public actors working together,” said Ricardo Sampaio, urban logistics coordinator at the Secretariat of Mobility of Bogotá. “To achieve these objectives, it is fundamental to count on the international experience and know-how of ICLEI.”.

The city of Rosario, which is an important logistics hub due to its port region, primarily for the export of grain production, wants to address urban freight transport, mainly from a metropolitan perspective. “We attract a greater volume of trips than we generate, so a metropolitan dynamic and vision is very important for us, especially concerning the transport of grains that arrive at our port,” declared María Cecilia Alvarez, Deputy Secretary for the Environment of Rosario.

The ICLEI World Congress marked the official project launch, when representatives from the selected cities met for the first time to share their cities' initial status regarding e-mobility and urban freight transport.

Find out more about the EcoLogistics Project