Enhancing the pace of transport decarbonisation: a mixed methods analysis of synergies and trade-offs with sustainability goals

Unofficial AI-generated summary based on the public title and abstract. Not an official translation.

🔬研究者:The mixed-methods framework and AHP analysis provide a replicable methodology for assessing synergies and trade-offs between decarbonisation and SDGs in transport.

🏢実務担当者:Policymakers and transport planners can use the indicator framework and findings to design decarbonisation strategies that also address equity and accessibility.

🏛政策担当者:The study underscores the need for governance and integrated planning to balance emissions reduction with social inclusion.

Transport decarbonisation is essential for mitigating climate change, yet its integration with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) remains a challenge. While reducing transport emissions is a priority, this effort must be carefully aligned with broader sustainability objectives, due to transport infrastructure’s influence on SDGs, including equity, accessibility, and economic opportunity. Further, while the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC, 2018) underscores the necessity of integrating SDGs with climate action, research explicitly linking SDGs with transport decarbonisation and examining their synergies and trade-offs remains limited. This study explores these interactions to inform transport planning and policy, guiding infrastructure development that minimises emissions while enhancing sustainability. Despite numerous assessment frameworks, there is no widely accepted standard criterion that explicitly integrates SDGs into the evaluation of transport decarbonisation efforts. Existing systems adopt different indicators based on data availability, leading to distorted assessments and inconsistent interpretations. To address this gap, the research begins with a Systematic Literature Review (SLR), conducted using the PRISMA framework, to develop a robust indicator framework aligned with SDG targets and decarbonisation objectives. This framework captures the multidimensional impact of transport on SDGs, offering a more accurate and meaningful assessment of decarbonisation efforts. A mixed-methods approach was adopted to gain a comprehensive understanding of the UK transport sector’s decarbonisation trajectory. Building on the indicator framework developed from the Systematic Literature Review, a quantitative Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) was conducted to rank and prioritise indicators from two perspectives: sustainable transport and decarbonisation-focused transport. The AHP analysis revealed significant differences in stakeholder priorities, particularly between public and private sector actors, and between social and environmental goals. However, transport decarbonisation is a complex, systemic challenge that cannot be understood through quantitative methods alone. Therefore, semi-structured interviews with policymakers, transport providers, and urban planners were conducted to uncover barriers to implementation, governance limitations, and sector-specific challenges. Thematic analysis of these interviews provided critical insights into the factors shaping transport decarbonisation, addressing gaps in existing policy and planning approaches. The findings indicate that decarbonisation efforts synergise with SDGs by improving health, traffic conditions, and resilience, but pose trade-offs in accessibility and social equity. Quantitative findings confirm that decarbonisation strategies tend to deprioritise accessibility and equity, highlighting the need for policy interventions. Strong governance, integrated planning, and active mobility investments are crucial for balancing emissions reduction with inclusivity. Governments must lead the transition, ensuring that economic burdens and inequalities are addressed proactively. Sustainable transport policies should align with social equity goals to prevent marginalisation in the transition process. Ultimately, the research contributes to both academic discourse and policy development, offering recommendations for infrastructure planning that accelerate decarbonisation without exacerbating existing transport inequalities.

• openalex https://doi.org/10.7488/era/7384first seen 2026-07-28 05:01:01