Do EU goals matter? Assessing the localization of sustainable urban logistics governance goals in Norwegian cities

Abstract

Sustainable urban logistics is imperative to meet urban sustainability goals. In the European context, the European Union (EU) set an ambitious target in 2011 of essentially CO2-free urban logistics by 2030. However, it is unclear how effectively such EU targets for urban logistics have shaped national- and urban-level policymaking. This paper investigates whether there is evidence of localization of these supranational goals for urban logistics at the national and local levels. Drawing on the ‘steering effects’ framework, we seek such effects across four dimensions—institutional, discursive, relational and resources. Empirically, we conduct a thematic analysis of transport-related documents across three governance levels—the EU, the national level of Norway and the local level comprising four Norwegian cities. Our findings show that the EU's urban logistics goals are reflected in changing policy behaviour at the national and local levels over time. Yet this is more evident in some areas than in others: the discursive effect is most evident at both the national and local levels, whereas the institutional effects at both these levels remain fragmented and weak. Therefore, the EU's goalsetting does matter, but we have yet to see strong effects beyond the discursive.