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Sustainable Transportation

Discover how to decarbonise freight transport and use emission assessment tools to measure environmental performance.

  • Duration

    2 weeks
  • Weekly study

    10 hours

Learn how to reduce the environmental impact of freight transportation

This course introduces you to the concept of sustainable freight transportation. You will learn how to decarbonise freight shipments through appropriate selection of transport modes, fuel types and vehicle technologies and will understand how to select optimal vehicle and packaging types to reduce the level of empty running and unnecessary transport movements.

Finally, you will explore and evaluate different emission assessment tools and learn how to perform lifecycle assessments and scenario analyses in order to develop efficient and sustainable freight transport strategies.

What topics will you cover?

Week 1: Sustainable freight transportation

  • Carbon footprint
  • Transport modes
  • Empty-running
  • Backhauling
  • Transport packaging
  • Single use versus reusable packaging
  • Powertrain technologies
  • Transportation management systems
  • Tracking, routing and navigation systems etc

Week 2: Carbon auditing

  • Decarbonisation
  • Alternative fuels
  • Electric vans and biofuels
  • Environmental legislation
  • Fuel quality
  • Fuel efficiency
  • Greenhouse gases
  • Vehicle emissions control
  • Carbon auditing tools
  • Emission assessment methods
  • Life cycle assessment
  • Scenario analysis etc

Learning on this course

On every step of the course you can meet other learners, share your ideas and join in with active discussions in the comments.

What will you achieve?

By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to...

  • Understand the contribution of freight transportation to the financial, social and environmental performance of a supply chain and identify the main ways to curtail the environmental externalities associated with freight shipments
  • Assess the environmental, social and economic impacts of different freight transport modes and examine how the transition to more energy efficient and less polluting vehicle types can help mitigate them
  • Examine the recent trends in empty-running and identify ways to improve vehicle utilisation by strategically selecting optimal vehicle sizes and utilising available back-load capacities
  • Explore the use of different packaging types for the transport of various cargo forms and investigate the factors that affect the selection of single-use or reusable variants
  • Critically appraise the effectiveness of innovative powertrain technologies and freight transport management systems on the grounds of their financial, social and environmental impact
  • Demonstrate an advanced understanding of how the decarbonisation of freight transportation can be achieved by using alternative fuels, such as electric energy and biofuels, to power up vehicles
  • Review and analyse current policies and legislation governing fuel quality and vehicle emissions control across a range of geographical contexts
  • Critically select and apply appropriate carbon auditing tools to calculate greenhouse gas emissions from freight transportation and conduct lifecycle and scenario analyses

Who is the course for?

This course will be of particular interest to those working or wishing to work in the freight transport sector, such as transport engineers and planners, service providers, junior and middle business managers, logistics planners, technicians, researchers, etc. It will provide them with the tools and the techniques to design and implement sustainable freight transport systems and minimise their social, economic and environmental impacts.

Who developed the course?

Coventry University

Coventry secured 5 QS Stars for Teaching and Online Learning in the QS World University Ranking 2020 and has received No. 1 in the world for Massive Open Online Courses in MoocLab’s World University Ranking 2021.

  • Established

    1992
  • Location

    Coventry

Learning on FutureLearn

Your learning, your rules

  • Courses are split into weeks, activities, and steps to help you keep track of your learning
  • Learn through a mix of bite-sized videos, long- and short-form articles, audio, and practical activities
  • Stay motivated by using the Progress page to keep track of your step completion and assessment scores

Join a global classroom

  • Experience the power of social learning, and get inspired by an international network of learners
  • Share ideas with your peers and course educators on every step of the course
  • Join the conversation by reading, @ing, liking, bookmarking, and replying to comments from others

Map your progress

  • As you work through the course, use notifications and the Progress page to guide your learning
  • Whenever you’re ready, mark each step as complete, you’re in control

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