The Cluster

A cluster to improve and decarbonise the delivery, business and operating methods of last-mile deliveries

Who are we?

DECARBOMILE, GREEN-LOG and URBANE are co-funded Horizon Europe projects. We form a cluster focused on the take-up and upscale of innovative, safe and sustainable last-mile delivery solutions. We aim to facilitate lesson learning and sharing at the European level, notably through the CIVITAS Initiative.

Our Focus

With the goal of improving urban space use, air quality, noise and safety and the overall liveability of cities, our three projects are exploring innovative solutions, tools and instruments such as:

  • clean vehicles and modes
  • dynamic e-routing
  • load policies
  • lockers
  • micro-consolidation centres
  • optimised delivery technologies and processes including improved tracking, logistics-as-a-service, delivery robots, multimodal deliveries and AI and CCAM solutions

Expected outcomes of the cluster

  • Test and develop logistics hubs, micro-consolidation centres, and new delivery methods in Living Labs in cooperation with local authorities and inline with their SUMPs and SULPs.

  • Optimise urban space and reduce empty miles through dynamic routing, load policies, parcel lockers, and boxes.

  • Improve liveability of urban and metropolitan areas by reducing road risk, congestion, and air and noise pollution.

  • Demonstrate cost-efficient, zero-emission modes of last-mile transport for urban and peri-urban deliveries in the Living Labs.

  • Improve knowledge of user needs, habits and preferences in terms of deliveries by collecting and sharing information amongst public authorities and private companies, while respecting GPDR.

  • Foster cooperation between private logistics operators and local businesses while establishing new models for addressing the governance and management of logistics operations through improved regulations, procurement and white-label schemes.

The Cluster’s Projects

DECARBOMILE is driving change in the green last-mile logistics space. The project aims to demonstrate the full potential of decarbonised last-mile delivery and promote sustainable practices in the industry, testing solutions.

GREEN-LOG is developing logistics-as-a-service platforms for interconnected city logistics, automated delivery concepts using autonomous vehicles and delivery droids, cargo-bike-based innovations for sustainable micro-consolidation, and multimodal parcel deliveries integrating public transportation.

  • Living Labs: Athens, Barcelona, Flanders (Ghent, Leuven and Mechelen), Oxfordshire & Ispra.
  • Follower cities: Arad, Helsingborg & Valga.
  • Duration: 01/2023 – 06/2026
  • https://greenlog-project.eu/

URBANE is a project on novel, sustainable, safe, resilient and effective last-mile delivery solutions, combining green automated vehicles and shared space utilisation models.

  • Living Labs: Helsinki, Bologna, Valladolid and Thessaloniki
  • Twinning Living Labs: Barcelona & Karlsruhe.
  • Follower cities: Aarhus, Antwerp, La Rochelle, Mechelen, Prague & Ravenna.
  • Duration: 09/2022 – 02/2026