While sustainable goals in transportation can be vague and elusive, it is for the transportation industry to address them through regulatory compliance and innovations. This covers two interrelated dimensions related to modes and infrastructures.
- Modes. The main dimension concerns the manufacturing and disposal of conveyances. This can involve the use of new materials, recycling, and reuse strategies as well as alternative sources of energy such as natural gas or electricity.
- Infrastructures. All transportation infrastructures such as roads, rights of way, and terminals require space for their construction and expansion; a footprint. This usually takes place on a greenfield site, implying the expansion of the transportation footprint.
Due to local pressures, several infrastructures such as ports and airports, embark on various environmental regulations that focus on noise and pollutant emissions because they have clear local impacts.