Environmental benefits of urban logistics facilities – A trade-off analysis of transportation and real estate impacts

Rapid urbanization and increasing emphasis on environmental sustainability have made logistics a prominent part of today’s urban planning challenges. In densely populated cities, logistics facilities are crucial for efficient and sustainable goods transportation. This article examines the environmental benefits of urban logistics facilities, focusing on the trade-off between reduced transportation emissions and the real estate impacts of the added facility in the supply chain. Traditional transportation analyses often overlook the environmental impact of logistics facilities. This study addresses that gap by integrating both transportation and building-related emissions into the assessment. This analysis focuses on proximity logistics, where facilities are added in dense urban areas. Using a case study in Brussels (Belgium), we explore how a multimodal consolidation center for construction logistics (called Brussels Construction Consolidation Center or BCCC) can reduce transportation emissions, taking the carbon footprint of the facility into account. The results show that using the BCCC leads to an annual reduction of approximately 45 tons CO 2 e in transportation emissions. However, construction and operation of the logistics facility introduce a combined total of approximately 16 tons CO 2 e in average annual service life emissions. This result is a net positive effect of approximately 29 tons CO 2 e reduced annually. Our research also indicates that as urban freight decarbonizes, emissions from transportation decreases and the relative share of emissions of buildings becomes more prominent. This underscores the importance of balancing transportation emissions with the carbon footprint of real estate.