Sustainability in the transport sector. An overview.

Sustainability is at the core of current policies and public financing at every level: international, EU and domestic. Despite the fact that none of the UN Sustainable Development Goals directly focuses on transportation and logistics, they are indeed paradigmatic sectors, since they entails different shades of sustainability. The most renowned of them is improving their environmental impact, for example by accelerating the transition to zero emission vehicles. Furthermore, the transport sector – much more than others – still experiences a lack of gender equality, at least for some activities therein performed. Moreover, due to the particular technicalities and dangerousness of some of the facilities and activities involved in these sectors, it is necessary to grant, with specifically designed rules, safety and security of workers. Finally, it is not possible to deal with sustainability without considering also the limited resources and capacities of their environments and infrastructures. Considering the seventeen SDGs, it is possible to identify the direct or indirect relevance transport and logistics sectors have for their achievement. After having identified and explained the sustainability goals and targets for whose fulfillment transportation and logistics play an important role, the article deepens some of the most important and the criticalities therein involved. The final part is devoted to the current Hard Law and Soft Law tools that could be employed for pursuing the SDGs in the sectors, such as climate clauses, Voluntary Sustainability Standards, company’s legal status or structure, specific obligations in public procurements.