The impact of path selection on GHG emissions in city logistics

In this paper, we formulate an emission-minimizing vehicle routing problem with heterogeneous vehicles and give rise to the effects of path selection. We take into account different paths for traveling between two locations differing with respect to their emissions. Computational experiments with artificial and real-world data illustrate the effects of path selection by considering networks with different road types like urban roads and highways. The experiments suggest an emission saving potential of about 2-4%. We conclude that in reality a larger emission reduction potential exists when multiple paths are considered in transportation planning.