News

Global Coalition Aims to Eliminate Emissions from Urban Deliveries by 2030

Dubai recently launched an international alliance to decarbonize the “last mile” of deliveries.

In an unprecedented move, eight of the world’s largest delivery platforms — including iFood, Uber, DoorDash, and Swiggy — officially announced the creation of the Deliver-E Coalition during an international event in Dubai in October 2025.

Operating across 98 countries and over 6 billion deliveries per year, the group aims to lead the transition toward zero-emission delivery, focusing primarily on light two- and three-wheeled vehicles. The announcement signals a strategic turning point in the fight against urban pollution and marks the beginning of a race toward electrifying last-mile logistics.

The Context: Deliveries Are Rising — and So Are Emissions

With e-commerce reaching record highs since the pandemic (US$25 trillion in 2021), cities are facing a sharp increase in delivery vehicles, especially motorcycles.

According to the UN, without major intervention, urban emissions linked to the delivery sector could rise by more than 30% by 2030 across the world’s 100 largest cities.

Beyond greenhouse gases, the current model contributes to up to 14% more traffic congestion and raises public-health costs related to air pollution by about 12%.

Why the Transition Also Makes Economic Sense

Deliver-E’s main focus is replacing combustion-engine vehicles with e-bikes and electric scooters. Estimates suggest this shift could:

• Cut up to 90% of emissions per delivery

• Lower operational costs for couriers by around 25%

• Boost overall delivery efficiency in dense urban areas

The Challenges: Infrastructure, Financing, and Social Equity

Despite its transformative potential, electrification still faces three major barriers:

1. Outdated Infrastructure

Over 40% of couriers report difficulties charging their vehicles. In many countries, there are still no proper charging stations for motorcycles and scooters, which limits the adoption of electric models.

2. High Upfront Costs

Even with lower daily operating expenses, the initial investment required to purchase an electric vehicle remains prohibitive for most gig-economy workers, many of whom are self-employed and lack access to credit.

3. Precarious Working Conditions

Without minimum labor protections, electrification could become an additional burden for couriers if the transition costs are not shared between companies and governments.

Emerging Solutions: Battery Swapping, Leasing, and Global Standardization

To overcome infrastructure gaps, the coalition is betting on battery-swapping systems, which Swiggy and the Taiwanese company Gogoro in India have successfully tested.

In this model, couriers exchange depleted batteries for fully charged ones in minutes, eliminating downtime for recharging.

Another proposal involves expanding vehicle rental or leasing models, removing the need for upfront purchase. Platforms are also discussing the global technical standardization of batteries, a crucial step for scaling the solution across diverse markets.

The Gap: Missing Quantified Targets

Despite the ambitious announcement, the Deliver-E Coalition has yet to present concrete targets or public timelines for transitioning to electric fleets. The group’s justification is that its initial focus lies in testing replicable models adaptable to various regulatory and economic contexts.

Experts warn, however, that the absence of clear goals could weaken the initiative’s environmental credibility.

How This Connects to Sustainable Construction

The electrification of urban mobility — especially in the delivery sector — demands new electrical infrastructure, charging networks, and more thoughtful urban planning.

Professionals in construction, architecture, and urban design have a crucial role to play.

Whether by designing multimodal electric-mobility hubs or integrating charging stations into buildings, collaboration between clean logistics and sustainable construction will be key to making cities healthier and more resilient.

Why It Matters

Delivery logistics are choking our cities.

The good news? It’s one of the fastest and most feasible sectors to decarbonize. But to make it work, we need three things:

• Robust electrical infrastructure

• Accessible financial models

• Real inclusion for workers

The Deliver-E Coalition could be the turning point — but it still needs to move from promises to measurable action.

And the sustainable-construction sector?

It has a decisive role: designing urban spaces that enable clean mobility and ensuring that entire cities are ready for this transition.

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Opinion

Regenerative Cities in Network: A New Architecture for the Urban Future

It’s no longer enough to limit the damage. The time has come to restore what has been lost — in the soil, in biodiversity, and in our social fabric.

The concept of regenerative cities represents this turning point: a shift in mindset that invites architects, engineers, urban planners, and policymakers to imagine the city as a living ecosystem capable of healing its own wounds.

From Net Zero to Net Positive: A new urban logic

For decades, sustainability has guided us through the logic of “doing less harm”: reducing consumption, offsetting emissions, and containing impacts. But in the Anthropocene — the geological era defined by human activity — that is no longer enough.

The idea of regenerative urbanism goes beyond technical efficiency. It challenges us to ask: how can we create more good than harm? How can every urban intervention become a step toward environmental, social, and cultural restoration?

Rather than preserving the status quo, regenerative urbanism replenishes ecosystems, strengthen communities, and celebrates place — its stories, its knowledge, and its local dynamics.

To regenerate is not merely a technical practice; it is an ethical commitment to the planet’s future and to urban justice.

Regeneration in Practice: Soil, Connectivity, and Community

Transformation begins at the ground — quite literally. Healthy soils form the foundation of green urban infrastructure. Techniques like phytoremediation use plants to decontaminate degraded areas. But make no mistake: this process is not immediate. It requires time, political commitment, and patience.

Green Infrastructure — including ecological corridors, green roofs, and vegetated façades — acts as the circulatory system of a regenerative city. In Medellín, for instance, the Green Corridors have significantly reduced heat islands and increased biodiversity in vulnerable urban areas.

Meanwhile, in the so-called “dead zones” of cities (underused or neglected areas), the challenge lies in restoring the social fabric. Revitalization can occur through mixed-use developments or adaptive reuse of abandoned structures. When carefully planned, these strategies bring people closer, reduce travel needs, and breathe new life into entire districts.

When Regeneration Becomes Collective

Regeneration is not a solitary task — and perhaps the biggest mistake is believing cities can be transformed by isolated good ideas.

Networks of regenerative cities, such as C40, URBACT, and the International Urban Cooperation (IUC), have shown that shared solutions are stronger. Within these networks, cities learn from one another, exchange experiences — and even resources: from climate-adapted plant species to replicable public policies.

A Practical Example:

In Buenos Aires, an innovative fiscal policy reduced property taxes for buildings with green roofs. The result? A significant increase in the city’s vegetative cover — achieved without relying solely on subsidies.

Such actions are only possible through networked governance, structured knowledge exchange, technical support, and innovative financing mechanisms.

How to Finance Regeneration?

This remains one of the toughest questions.

Regenerative projects tend to generate distributed, long-term benefits — less urban heat, better public health, stronger social cohesion. Yet the market still struggles to measure and value these returns properly.

Some emerging solutions include:

• Carbon credits applied to green infrastructure

• Urban circular economy models (as in Amsterdam)

• Decentralized climate financing, particularly for cities in the Global South

By developing robust indicators — such as the amount of CO₂ sequestered by a green corridor or the social impact of a community garden — these cities are opening new channels for investment.

Success Stories: Measuring to Inspire

In Amsterdam, the Buiksloterham district already uses 80% recycled materials in its public buildings. The city aims to become 100% circular by 2050. And it’s not just rhetoric — Amsterdam has developed a real-time dashboard to track material flows and emissions.

Medellín, for its part, has shown that with political will and technical support, it is possible to tackle structural problems such as urban heat and ecological fragmentation using nature-based solutions.

In Athens, a pilot project regenerated the central commercial zone with more trees, fewer cars, and greater active mobility. Even without fully consolidated KPIs, the social and environmental effects were visible.

The Challenge of Regenerative Metrics

Social regeneration — the kind that strengthens community bonds, fosters collective care, and builds belonging — may be the hardest to measure.

How do we quantify the impact of a community garden on mental health? Or the value of a public square where neighbors meet, talk, and co-create solutions?

There is still no standardized set of KPIs that go beyond carbon emissions to capture the full complexity of a regenerated urban environment.

Yet the movement is underway — and the more cities exchange methods, experiences, and assessment tools, the further we will go.

Where Do We Go from Here?

Regenerative cities are not models to be copied and pasted. They are living organisms that learn from their territories, adapt to climate, people, and crises.

The future is networked.

A future where knowledge circulates, resources are shared, and regeneration becomes collaborative — ecological, yes, but also cultural, economic, and emotional.