Bike courier cycles beneath a graffitied bridge, photograph by Evgeniya Iakovleva

Health effects of air pollution

Our work to reduce air pollution from freight

We’ve been working with partners throughout Lambeth and Southwark to test ways to reduce air pollution from freight in cities.

Amandeep Singh Kellay

Portfolio Manager

Robin Minchom

Portfolio Manager

Freight – the transportation of goods and services – is the backbone of our economy. But our freight system is outdated, which is bad news for the economy, businesses and our health.

Freight is a significant contributor to air pollution in urban areas, and while that air pollution affects us all, it disproportionately affects people from minoritised communities, people in lower income areas, and children.

Finding practical solutions to the outdated freight system in urban areas is a key focus of our Health effects of air pollution programme. We want to find better, smarter, and greener ways to transport goods and services that work for consumers, businesses and the economy.

Funding research on freight and air pollution

Our work began by commissioning Centre for London to look at the future of London’s freight. They focused on how goods and services move around the city, how these journeys are changing and what that means for local communities. The study made recommendations about how to create a greener, efficient freight and logistics ecosystem in the capital.

As well as gathering insights into the future of freight, we wanted to understand how much freight already costs cities like London. Collaborating with Team London Bridge, we supported Just Economics to gather evidence on the true cost of freight.

They found that the hidden social, environmental and health costs of London’s diesel vans total a staggering £2.46 billion every year.

Our focus on congested roads and polluting vans

Polluting diesel vans are a major source of air pollution, with devastating consequences for people’s health. So, we invested in testing alternatives that could show us how to:

Reduce the total number of polluting miles driven for deliveries in Lambeth and Southwark, by making delivery systems more efficient.
Make deliveries in our boroughs greener and cleaner, by helping businesses and shoppers to make the move from polluting vans to sustainable vehicles.

The problem of last mile deliveries

Last mile home deliveries – the journeys between your local depot and front door – increase congestion and pollute the air where people live.

We went back to Centre for London to find out if more and better local parcel pick-up points could be part of a solution. They found people would make the shift to an active last mile, if they had access to a safe, convenient pick-up point close to home. Nudges towards a green delivery option by online retailers at the check-out basket also had a positive influence.

Another solution could be better, smarter consolidation of urban deliveries. We partnered with Cross River Partnership on a year-long trial of a micro-consolidation hub in South London. These smart delivery centres serve their local area, only handling small and lightweight goods. This means couriers can move goods from the depot to the doorstep using zero or low emission modes.

Making freight miles greener and cleaner

Cargo bikes are often cheaper, faster, and cleaner alternatives to diesel vans in cities and are particularly useful for last-mile deliveries. But there is a long way to go for this delivery option to be shifted into the mainstream. That’s why we funded four projects that tested ways to get businesses, shoppers and food delivery drivers behind the idea.

For the first, we backed an 18-month project offering local businesses the subsidies and support they’d need to switch to cargo bike deliveries. By the end of the project, run by Team London Bridge and MP Smarter Travel, 150 businesses made the switch. 116 began using a cargo bike courier or service provider and 34 bought their own cargo bike.

To encourage consumers to choose deliveries by cargo bike, we supported Glimpse and their Cargo Revolution campaign. This celebrates and promotes the benefits cargo bikes bring to people in London and champion the businesses that use them.

We also partnered with Glimpse, MP Smarter Travel and Clean Cities to put together the Cargo Revolution Borough Charter. The Charter gives London’s local authorities an opportunity to become a cargo bike-friendly borough. So far, eight boroughs have signed up, including Lambeth and Southwark.

On-demand food deliveries rely heavily on drivers using personal motorbikes and scooters. These polluting vehicles are bad for air quality and dangerous for their drivers. We funded climate action charity Possible to investigate the effect of this industry on London’s air and roads. Possible are also working directly with food delivery drivers to find out what needs to happen for gig economy drivers to make the move to safer, less polluting vehicles. We’ll share the results of this project when they are published later this year.

Could river and rail freight be a viable alternative?

What about using river and rail to ease the burden on roads? We supported work to assess the potential of London’s rail network and the river Thames as cleaner, less polluting alternatives for moving freight around London.

Working with Cross River Partnership, we explored the possibility of trains delivering more freight into London. The research focused on the capability of stations in Lambeth and Southwark to receive freight from the wider rail network and transfer it to clean delivery modes. The On track for sustainable logistics report shortlisted Waterloo and London Bridge stations as good potential locations to trial new approaches. It recommended further investigation into the ‘parcels as passengers’ delivery concept.

In partnership with Grid Smarter Cities, we also looked at how river-to-road deliveries, via Bankside pier in Southwark, could be managed more efficiently. The Kerb-Dock project developed an online system for delivery companies to pre-book riverside loading bays.

What we’ve learnt and what’s next

If we want clean air for everyone in our cities and towns, we need to make changes to the freight system. This is not a problem the freight industry can solve alone; businesses will need support from the Government and local authorities.

Read more about our business-friendly approaches to freight, and our recommendations for Government in the pages below.

More on freight and air pollution

Health effects of air pollution

Heavy goods vehicles, aerial photograph by Ivan Bandura

Freight and air pollution. What’s the problem?

Freight is the backbone of the economy. But an outdated system is congesting cities and harming people’s health in urban areas.

Health effects of air pollution

London road, with assorted vehicles. Photograph by Charles Postiaux

What can councils and the Government do to reduce pollution from freight?

We’re calling on the Government to implement our policy recommendations to reduce air pollution from freight.

Health effects of air pollution

Roadway in City of London, with buses, vans, and a cyclist. Photograph by Ruoyu Li.

What can businesses do to reduce air pollution from freight?

The transition to a greener freight system will rely on joined-up thinking and fresh policies from the Government. But businesses can take positive steps now to reduce air pollution and its harmful effects on people’s health.