Successful decarbonisation of logistics will depend on a coordinated, whole-systems approach not isolated action or siloed policymaking across different parts of the sector. This is the recommendation of a new discussion paper “Thinking holistically: how to decarbonise multimodal logistics” from business group Logistics UK, published today (1 July 2026) at Multimodal at the NEC in Birmingham.
“Our industry is committed to decarbonising,” explains Ben Fletcher, the organisation’s Chief Executive, “and has already made great progress in adopting new technologies, forming new collaborations and optimising its processes. However, it is clear that the next step forward requires a shift in how we approach logistics decarbonisation in the UK, as low carbon fuels (LCFs), electricity networks, infrastructure, skills and planning all need to be considered as an integrated system.
“Across all our transport modes, the same challenges of cost, technology readiness, infrastructure delays and fuel availability are hampering progress. Addressing these challenges in partnership with government is critical if the sector is to accelerate its transition in a way that keeps costs down for the wider economy.”
The report highlights the key barriers preventing full decarbonisation and constraining the sector’s ability to drive economic growth:
“High upfront costs and delays to the roll out of electricity infrastructure, along with concerns over the sustained supply of LCFs, are both major roadblocks to our sector’s multimodal decarbonisation ambitions,” he explains. “In particular, the cost of procuring adequate and timely grid connections alongside high industrial electricity prices are holding our industry back. We need access to comprehensive, low-cost electricity as well as consistent availability of LCFs to keep goods moving and trade growing.
“Supply constraints for LCFs are driving up prices, so logistics must be prioritised to ensure that we can continue to deliver for the economy while reducing our greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.”
As Mr Fletcher continues, decarbonisation presents a major economic opportunity, if we stop developing decarbonisation policies for different transport modes in isolation:
“A whole-system approach would strengthen supply chain resilience and competitiveness, creating thousands of highly skilled jobs. Increasing domestic fuel production would boost the nation’s energy security and reduce our reliance on international supplies. By understanding how much power our industry will require from the UK’s capacity-constrained grid, we can accelerate electrification where it is most viable.”
“Logistics is key to a stable economy, but as today’s paper highlights, this cannot be achieved while decarbonising in silos. The challenges facing our industry are shared and so too must be the solutions. Industry and government must take a whole-system view.”
A copy of the paper can be downloaded here.
