Assessing the Environmental Impact of Freight Transportation in Multinational Supply Chains and its Sustainable Alternatives

Assessing the Environmental Impact of Freight Transportation in Multinational Supply Chains and its Sustainable Alternatives | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Assessing the Environmental Impact of Freight Transportation in Multinational Supply Chains and its Sustainable Alternatives Mohammed Alquraish, Khaled Abuhasel This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8647264/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Fulfilling global trade requirements, freight transport contributes to greenhouse gas emissions with around 8% contribution towards global CO₂ emissions. While logistical performance improvements are a global endeavor, they have sometimes been rendered ineffective in terms of proportional emission reductions. Existing studies have invariably examined freight emissions at a regional level or by transport mode; hardly any were found to integrate global freight activity with logistics performance indicators such as the World Bank's Logistics Performance Index (LPI). This research attempts to bridge this gap by integrating OECD–ITF datasets together with World Bank LPI data to analyze how logistics performance translates to freight-related CO₂ emissions across countries and transport modes. The new approach involves proposal of integrating the Triple Bottom Line (TBL) and Green Supply Chain Management (GSCM) frameworks into one Sustainable Freight Framework (SFF). It finds that the strongest influence upon CO₂ emissions (β = 0.921, p < 0.001) was exerted by freight volume (TKM), while weaker influences were exerted by LPI and transport mode. Altogether, the model accounted for 84.4% of the emissions variance thus measured (R² = 0.844). While simulations in influence-based research explore such a relationship, the current paper relies on real-world data to show practical validation of the logistics performance-emissions link. Results highlight how decarbonization of supply chains can come from the integration of logistics efficiency with modal shifts and green technologies, providing key information to policymakers and sustainability professionals elsewhere. Freight Transportation Logistics Performance Index CO₂ Emissions Sustainable Freight Systems Green Supply Chain Management Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8647264","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":594573108,"identity":"e482f983-2c64-471a-b971-ea07ea60e2bb","order_by":0,"name":"Mohammed Alquraish","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA4klEQVRIiWNgGAWjYFAC5gYgIcFgwN7ABuIRo4URqoXnAGlaGBgMJBKI1KLbfrDxdkWNhb255BuzBwwV1okN/Icf4NVidiax2fLMMYnEnbNzzA0YzqQnNkikGeDXciCxTbKBTSLB4HaOmQRj22GgFgYCWs4/BGr5J2FvcPMMUMs/oBb+4x/wa7kBtKWxTYJxww0eoJYGoBaGHAK23HjYbNnYJ5G44UxauUHCsXTjNomcAgIOSz54s+Fbnb3B8cPbHnyosZbt5z++Aa8WEJCAsxKAmI2gehQto2AUjIJRMAqwAQBZrkfgTgk2eAAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==","orcid":"","institution":"University of Bisha","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Mohammed","middleName":"","lastName":"Alquraish","suffix":""},{"id":594573109,"identity":"97f15800-5a1f-4baf-a26d-7600c16d06e8","order_by":1,"name":"Khaled Abuhasel","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Bisha","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Khaled","middleName":"","lastName":"Abuhasel","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-01-20 09:25:30","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8647264/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8647264/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":105566576,"identity":"65d91df3-03c6-499a-91de-d34c208c10d1","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-03-27 12:56:44","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":717182,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"EnvironmentalImpact.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8647264/v1_covered_8ab051fc-43ad-4bc4-9855-8e093806983d.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Assessing the Environmental Impact of Freight Transportation in Multinational Supply Chains and its Sustainable Alternatives","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Freight Transportation, Logistics Performance Index, CO₂ Emissions, Sustainable Freight Systems, Green Supply Chain Management","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8647264/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8647264/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eFulfilling global trade requirements, freight transport contributes to greenhouse gas emissions with around 8% contribution towards global CO₂ emissions. While logistical performance improvements are a global endeavor, they have sometimes been rendered ineffective in terms of proportional emission reductions. Existing studies have invariably examined freight emissions at a regional level or by transport mode; hardly any were found to integrate global freight activity with logistics performance indicators such as the World Bank's Logistics Performance Index (LPI). This research attempts to bridge this gap by integrating OECD\u0026ndash;ITF datasets together with World Bank LPI data to analyze how logistics performance translates to freight-related CO₂ emissions across countries and transport modes. The new approach involves proposal of integrating the Triple Bottom Line (TBL) and Green Supply Chain Management (GSCM) frameworks into one Sustainable Freight Framework (SFF). 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