Freight transport decarbonization is currently an urgent challenge. Decarbonization strategies have a specific time to take effect, and it is essential to consider their time dependence. The system dynamics approach is well suited to represent feedback, lagged responses, and the time dependence of decarbonization strategies. We carried out a systematic literature review of system dynamics models in relation to strategies for freight decarbonization to identify the treatment of relevant dynamics of the system within the models. The 50 studies that fulfilled our search criteria were categorized by decarbonization strategies, the external factors needed to support them, and simulated policy instruments. The results show that no model presented a broad view of the system, addressing a limited combination of strategies. Most importantly, system dynamics models do not clarify how time-dependent behavior is determined, which indicates a significant research gap that can be critical for understanding the policy’s urgency and impacts.

Overweight vehicles in ornamental stone transportation reduce the lifespan of the pavement and increase accidents on Brazilian highways. This paper evaluates the relationship between different policies for the loading of ornamental stone vehicles and its externalities, such as the impact on costs with transportation, pavement maintenance and road accidents, using the System Dynamics (SD) method. The results confirm the advantages of reducing operational costs with the practice of overweight. However, as the overweight increases, the pavement maintenance and road accidents costs also increase. Therefore, the best vehicle loading policy depends on the relative importance of the economic and social costs involved.

As part of the global efforts to mitigate climate change, policymakers are designing measures to reduce the carbon emissions of the freight transport system. As global agreements for decarbonisation specify strict time windows, it is important to understand the speed at which the transport system is capable of changing. Our paper proposes a causal loop diagram based on System Dynamics that qualitatively maps the system’s causal and dynamic responses to five key decarbonisation strategies. As the main contribution, this conceptual model provided a broad overview of the freight system, formed by subsystems that interact with each other through feedback loops, forming its dynamic behaviour. Through this conceptual modelling effort, we can identify the rebound effects of policies over the whole system, which could defeat the desired decarbonisation results. The model pointed out policies and feedback loops as the dynamic levers to promote freight decarbonisation and influence the system’s dynamic responses.

A gestão de resíduos sólidos, no Brasil, é deficitária por falhas políticas e normativas. O crescimento populacional e a inovação tecnológica aumentam a geração de resíduos, mas o gerenciamento adequado dos resíduos pode ser realizado a partir de normas efetivas. Por outro lado, o processo de elaboração das leis a partir do envolvimento de atores e de interesses divergentes prejudica a efetividade de sua implementação. Partindo desse pressuposto, o processo de elaboração normativa e regulamentar brasileiro deve ser avaliado na tentativa de identificar pontos falhos que possam ser melhorados. Interessante ainda será na proposição de melhorias a tal sistema, por meio de um estudo comparado com o sistema europeu, que tem demonstrado sucesso na implementação de sua política para gestão de resíduos. Sendo assim, este artigo analisou a elaboração normativa paralelamente à Política Nacional de Resíduos Sólidos - PNRS - no Brasil e com a Diretiva 2008/98/CE do Parlamento Europeu e do Conselho da União Europeia. Fica evidente, a partir dos instrumentos da PNRS, a inabilidade dos sistemas deliberativos de tomada de decisão no Brasil, como a demora na oficialização do Plano Nacional de Resíduos Sólidos, na assinatura dos acordos setoriais e as lições que poderiam ser retiradas da prática europeia nesse setor.