Transport is the second largest energy-consuming sector, with a 32 % of share of final energy consumption.  The European Commission has set the ambitious goal of CO2-free city logistics by 2030. This does not only call for public policy actions, but for a shift in the paradigm of policies. 82% of Europeans will live in cities by 2050, therefore urban freight issues need to be tackled in the perspective of functional urban areas (FUAs), taking into consideration the functional transport and economic relations between inner urban centres and the surrounding urban territories. This is how policies will achieve impacts through territorial and economic development of central European urban areas. 

SULPITER has supported policy makers in improving their understanding of FUAs freight phenomena in an energy and environmental perspective.

The project has enhanced their capacity in urban freight mobility planning in order to develop and adopt sustainable urban logistics plans (SULPs). Policy makers in Bologna, Budapest, Poznan, Brescia, Stuttgart, Maribor and Rijeka have worked together with further local, regional and national non-partner authorities and with technical partners.

They have focused on transnational policy capacity building, and on the development of transnational analytical and governance tools, resulting in improved and adopted policies for the future energy and environmental sustainability of freight transport in central European FUAs.