Decarbonizing freight for a new era of resilient and efficient logistics in India

Project Summary:

Operationally efficient and responsive supply chains are key to a nation’s competitiveness. In this regard, India lags behind other developed countries. Inefficient, unreliable, unsophisticated logistics directly impact the competitiveness of agriculture, industry and ultimately the entire country. The challenge ahead for India is twofold: increase the efficiency of the logistics sector to support the ambitious Post-COVID development targets, while bringing about a radical decarbonization of the sector.Fortunately, there is an important alignment between the economy’s need for an efficient, modern logistics sector and the climate imperative. Both require the development of a competitive integrated multi-modal system and the modernization of trucking ecosystem. On this premise, the grant aims to support the transformation and decarbonization of the freight sector in India, focusing on a deep dive engagement of the trucking industry to power a multimodal, efficient, and connected logistics. The grant is linked to the on-going World Bank’s Green national Highways Corridor project.

List of Activities:

• Activity 1: Deep dive review India’s logistics ecosystem, operations, & policy (cofounded by Climate Support Facility). 
• Activity 2: Modeling drivers, incentives, the decision-making process of logistics & trucking sector & to calculate decarbonization impact (cofounded by Climate Support Facility). 
• Activity 3: Mapping & piloting policy, infrastructure, certification, & technology solutions for sustainable & efficient freight. 
• Activity 4: Capacity-building & Design a South-South Knowledge Exchange (including KOTI & MOLIT) program to ensure relevant actors can learn from the experience of other countries. Raise awareness of the challenges related to resilient & efficient logistics systems. Outputs include stakeholder engagement & training events, as well related outputs (e.g., notes, presentations).

Outcomes:

Output 1

• Report on logistics ecosystem.

Output 2

• Development & dissemination of a framework & white paper on the operational model of Indian trucking sector for decarbonization

Output 3

• Report on (i)opportunities to increase trucking sector efficiency (ii)opportunities to increase logistics multimodality, & (iii)recommended long term action plan to implement identified strategies

Output 4

• Stakeholder engagement & training events, as well related outputs (e.g., notes, presentations)

Outcomes

• Direct contribution to the on-going World Bank project  (P167350) by providing a set of actionable recommendations to increase road logistic efficiency & reduce emissions. This contributes directly to Project Development Objective indicator (c) Reduced Vehicle Operating Costs on project highways.
• Development of a new sectoral strategy, focused on increasing the efficiency & resilience of India logistics.

Collaboration with K-Partners and Others:

• Korea Transport Institute (KOTI)
• Ministry of Land, Infrastructure & Transport (MOLIT)
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Center for Transportation & Logistics (CTL)