Purpose-Whilst the importance of a well-functioning urban goods distribution system is widely acknowledged, city authorities have become increasingly aware of the need to minimise the disbenefits associated to the system. There are now many examples of initiatives to increase the eco-efficiency of urban freight deliveries; however, very few have made a notable impact. The success of such schemes often depends upon the response of a range of private sector freight stakeholders and their involvement during the planning process of these solutions is crucial. This paper describes and analyses a case of local freight stakeholder involvement to plan and design ecoefficient city logistics innovations in a small city in Italy. Design/methodology/approach-To engage local freight stakeholders within the planning process of a city logistics project, the Logical Framework Approach, in the form of the Design and Monitoring Framework (DMF) developed by the Asian Development Bank, has been applied. Penultimate working draft. Findings-The structured consultation process implied within the DMF approach allowed urban freight stakeholders to share their aspirations from the beginning of the city freight planning process, despite their differences in priorities in adopting eco-efficient logistics innovations. The process ensured that city stakeholders accepted and committed to the city logistics strategies formulated during the consultation process, namely: changes to the Limited Traffic Zone regulation; the use of an urban consolidation centre; and hybrid electric truck adoption. Research limitations/implications-The evaluation of the DMF application will be definitive after the demonstration/implementation stage of the city logistics project. It will then become clear if freight stakeholders have committed to the project and if it is effective in delivering the expected outputs and outcomes. Practical implications-Local city authorities may find this method useful in situations where a structured consultation process is needed for addressing urban freight issues. This is especially the case in the context of introducing innovative, eco-efficiency solutions. Originality/value-The application of DMF in the developed environment can be considered novel; this paper extends this with an application to the promotion of sustainable urban freight.

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The relationship between sustainability and urban freight transport has gained the attention of urban freight researchers in the past decade. One of the successful approaches is the formation of Freight Quality Partnerships, a public private partnership (PPP). This paper presents a conceptual approach to employing a PPP of a different kind: a Design and Monitoring Framework (DMF) to address sustainable urban freight. The paper explains how DMF methodology was developed from logical framework analysis and how it was deployed, in a novel fashion, in a developed setting, addressing city logistics issues in a British city and on a leading British university campus.

It has been proposed that climate policies aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel use may actually worsen the problem of global warming. Such a Green Paradox could occur if fossil fuel resource owners exploit their resources more rapidly due to the expectation of stricter climate policies in the future. This article shows that the emergence of the Green Paradox is less plausible if exploration activities are taken into account. An extraction model that incorporates exploration investments finds that an increasing cash flow tax is effective in dealing with climate change depending upon the specific formulation of the tax scheme. For example, the higher the initial tax level, the more effective is the tax scheme in mitigating climate change and hence a Green Paradox can be avoided. A very low growth rate is also beneficial for the climate as it leads to a small temporal redistribution of extraction to earlier periods. A very high growth rate leads to faster extraction; however, it also coincides with a significant decrease in total emissions that is inconsistent with a Green Paradox.

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