An emission control policymaking model for sustainable river transportation

Abstract

Sustainable river transportation is an important component in the development of green transportation. Emission control policymaking in rivers is a key measure for realizing sustainable river transportation. Transportation demand for an origin–destination pair of cities along a river may involve transferring between land transportation and water transportation. This study takes this into account by using a mathematical programming methodology to propose a model for emission control policymaking for sustainable river transportation that minimizes the total emissions produced by both land transportation and river transportation. The model supports government regulators in making heterogeneous emission control area (ECA) policies for a river, which is shown to be superior to a traditional homogeneous ECA policy. A branch-and-bound algorithm is also developed to solve the model. Using two of China’s main rivers, a case study is conducted to derive computational results that may be potentially useful for government regulators in policymaking.