Lessons from the Last Mile: Evolving Practices for Urban Logistics

The report details five 'promising practices' in urban logistics: off-hour deliveries in New York City, river-based deliveries by IKEA in Paris, pedestrian-based 'Walker On-Zone Dispatch' by Amazon in London, smart fleet electrification by Posten Bring in Norway, and a micromobility subscription programme by iFood in Brazil.

• New York City's Off-Hour Deliveries (OHD) programme, which shifts freight movements to between 19:00 and 06:00, has expanded from a 2009 pilot to 1,100 locations by 2021. The programme is supported by Local Laws 184 and 189 and is funded through 2029 with $11 million, including a $6 million federal CMAQ grant and $5 million from MTA tolling revenue.
• Off-peak deliveries in New York City result in a 29% faster average speed compared to peak hours, saving 17 minutes on every 60-minute trip. Environmentally, these trips produce 15-18% fewer greenhouse gas emissions due to improved traffic flow and reduced idling.
• IKEA France's Seine River Delivery Programme uses barges to transport goods from the Gennevilliers warehouse to the Port of Bercy, with electric vans handling the final delivery in Paris. This multimodal system handles approximately 300 orders per day and has removed over 16,000 truck trips from Parisian roads, reducing CO2 emissions per delivery by up to 5 times compared to diesel vans.
• Amazon's Walker On-Zone Dispatch (OZD) pilot in London's Hackney, Westminster, and Islington boroughs uses a single 3.5-tonne van as a stationary anchor point for 4-5 walking porters with pushcarts. Since 2024, the pilot has delivered over one million parcels on foot and avoided 5,500 van trips in central London.
• Posten Bring in Norway partnered with Hitachi ZeroCarbon to electrify depots at Logistikksenter Oslo (LSO) and Østlandsterminalen (OT) using smart load management and tariff optimization. This approach doubled charging capacity without requiring major grid upgrades and achieved 10% savings against flat-rate charging baselines.
• The iFood Pedal programme in Brazil provides delivery couriers in 11 major cities with subscription-based bicycles and e-bikes to replace motorcycles. The programme prevented 800 tonnes of CO2 in 2025 and facilitates 750,000 zero-emission deliveries per month.

APA

World Economic Forum (2025). Lessons from the Last Mile: Evolving Practices for Urban Logistics. https://reports.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Urban_Deliveries_Case_Studies_Combined_2025.pdf

Chicago

World Economic Forum. Lessons from the Last Mile: Evolving Practices for Urban Logistics. 2025. https://reports.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Urban_Deliveries_Case_Studies_Combined_2025.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Economic Forum |title=Lessons from the Last Mile: Evolving Practices for Urban Logistics |date=October 2025 |url=https://reports.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Urban_Deliveries_Case_Studies_Combined_2025.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldeconomicforum2025lessons, author = {{World Economic Forum}}, title = {{Lessons from the Last Mile: Evolving Practices for Urban Logistics}}, institution = {World Economic Forum}, year = {2025}, month = oct, url = {https://reports.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Urban_Deliveries_Case_Studies_Combined_2025.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }