The transport sector is responsible for several environmental impacts, including contributions to climate change through greenhouse gas emissions and depleting natural resources. A strategy to reduce these issues goes towards the application of a circular economy, a concept that offers a response to increasing concerns about resource scarcity and the associated impacts from their use. Thus, this paper aims to fill a gap in the literature that consists of the scarcity of studies that consider the circular economy application on a micro, meso, and macro level in road transport, including all stages as well as the 7 Rs of the reverse cycle. Therefore, an approach is presented to meet road transport needs, highlighting best practices obtained through a literature review, to promote climate change mitigation and resource depletion. Qualitative data were presented for each circular economy stage with 46 best practices identified, providing invaluable guidance to transport decision-makers. Thus, public policies focusing on all of the CE stages should be taken into consideration, not only those responsible for closing the cycle, such as waste and recycling or disposal and treatment.

The ever-increasing impacts of the last mile delivery sector on the environment and the quality of life of the urban population, such as increased congestion, demand best practices to be incorporated by companies to reduce impacts such as emission of air pollutants and Greenhouse Gases (GHG) and depletion of natural resources, among others. However, a myriad of strategies has been developed for this purpose but there is a lack of methodologies that allow the choice of the best ones for a specific case. Therefore, this study looks for those best practices to be employed through an innovative methodology that consists of SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats), a map of strategies of the delivery service, and using the Sustainability Balanced Scorecard (SBSC) and the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), with the differential of considering the peculiarities of each company. The results applied in a Brazilian last mile delivery service company show that best practices such as route optimization, implementation of new infrastructure and business models for urban deliveries, and use of information systems for fleet tracking and monitoring contribute significantly to improving performance indicators and achieving the sector’s goal to become more sustainable, and especially meeting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 8, 9, 11, and 17.

Given the shifts in consumer demands, the business environment, and the various economic, competitive, and environmental challenges faced by transportation companies, sustainable logistics is gaining increasing recognition as a crucial aspect for consideration. With these factors in mind, this paper seeks to outline the optimal approaches embraced by transportation companies in Brazil, evaluate the extent to which these practices have been implemented, and propose a method for assisting the adoption of a course of implementation action that supports decision makers in the effort to choose the best practices aligned with the degree of maturity of sustainable practices adopted by the assessed companies. The outcomes of this study present a valuable blueprint for transporters, especially those in the initial phases of incorporating sustainable logistics practices, as they endeavor to conform to industry norms and enhance their overall sustainability.

As society has experiences new modes of mobility in recent years, cities have planned to increase their energy efficiency as a way of reducing environmental impacts and promoting economic development. However, governments face difficulties in establishing mechanisms to determine the best actions in the management of urban mobility regarding energy efficiency and to elaborate a ranking of cities based on energy efficiency in order to better allocate resources. This is due to the complex nature of obtaining a wide range of activity and energy data from a single municipality, especially in data-scarce regions. This paper develops and applies a model for estimating the energy efficiency of urban mobility that is applicable to different contexts and backgrounds. The main contribution of the article is the use of a multitier approach to compare and adjust outputs, considering different transport configurations and data sets. The results indicate that variations in vehicle occupancy and individual motorized transport rates have a significant impact on energy efficiency, which reached 0.70 passenger-kilometers/MJ in Sorocaba, Brazil. However, as the use of electric vehicles increases in this city, this scenario is expected to change. Additionally, the method has been proven to be an important mechanism for benchmarking purposes and for the decision-making process for transport investments.

This study adopts the 5W2H management tool to investigate the opportunities and challenges of enzymatic biodiesel production from residual oils. The methodological approach enables a structured evaluation of technical, economic, environmental, and governance aspects, clarifying critical conditions for feasibility and scalability. To illustrate this framework, the research applies it to the Brazilian biofuel sector, focusing on the valorization of Distillers Corn Oil (DCO), a by-product of corn ethanol production not intended for human consumption. Results show that enzymatic conversion of DCO can reduce feedstock costs by more than 50% and energy demand by up to 86.8% compared with conventional chemical processes. Nevertheless, the scalability of this technology faces critical barriers, such as enzyme costs, reaction times, and regulatory uncertainties. The study concluded that public–private partnerships and targeted policies, such as those under Brazil’s National Biodiesel Program (PNPB), are essential to overcoming these challenges and bridging the “valley of death” toward commercialization. By combining technical, economic, and governance perspectives, the study demonstrates that DCO-based enzymatic biodiesel has the potential to reinforce Brazil’s role in the global biofuels market while promoting a circular and sustainable energy transition.

Background: Recent studies evidence a lack of accurate methods to estimate energy efficiency in urban areas. This is due to the complex nature of obtaining wide range of activity and energy data from a single municipality, especially from developing countries, where data is usually scarce. Under these circumstances, this paper develops a method for estimating the energy efficiency in urban passenger mobility, considering three different levels of detail. The innovative factor is the use of a multi-tier approach to compare and adjust outputs. The method was applied in Sorocaba, Brazil, estimating a baseline of energy efficiency in this city. Results: Results show that energy efficiency varied from 0.67 passenger per kilometer/Mega Joule in 2013 to 0.70 passenger per kilometer /Mega Joule in 2017, which are consistent with the Brazilian passenger transport energy efficiency. Conclusions: The method proved to be an important mechanism for benchmarking purposes and for the decision-making process on transport investments. Moreover, it can be applied in cities from countries with different cultural and economic contexts.