Environmental Sustainability of Global Transport Systems: Impacts, Innovations, and Pathways to Resilient Low-Carbon Mobility

Transport systems are essential to economic development, trade, and social connectivity, but they also generate substantial environmental pressures through greenhouse gas emissions, air pollution, resource consumption, and ecosystem disturbance. As countries work toward climate goals and more sustainable urban and regional development, the environmental performance of transport systems has become a critical scientific and societal challenge.Addressing this challenge requires an interdisciplinary perspective that connects geoscience, environmental science, energy systems, infrastructure planning, and public policy. Research on transport sustainability increasingly extends beyond technical performance alone to consider broader Earth-system and societal implications, including air quality, climate change, land-use pressures, environmental monitoring, resilience, and the sustainable management of natural resources and built environments.Recent advances in cleaner fuels, electrification, hybrid propulsion, intelligent transportation systems, digital monitoring, and low-emission operational strategies offer important opportunities to reduce the environmental footprint of transport. At the same time, tools such as life-cycle assessment, environmental risk analysis, emissions monitoring, and integrated sustainability assessment are becoming central to evidence-based planning and decision-making.This Research Topic invites contributions that examine how transport systems can transition toward environmentally responsible, low-carbon, and resilient futures. We welcome studies that improve understanding of the environmental impacts of transport infrastructure and operations, evaluate mitigation and adaptation pathways, and support the design of sustainable mobility systems across local, regional, and global scales.Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:• greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution from transport systems• climate change mitigation and adaptation in transport planning and infrastructure• environmental impacts of transport infrastructure on land, water, and ecosystems• energy efficiency and decarbonization pathways in mobility and freight systems• electrification, alternative fuels, and low-emission transport technologies• environmental monitoring, modeling, and assessment of transport-related impacts• life-cycle assessment and risk evaluation of transport infrastructure and operations• sustainable mobility strategies for cities, regions, and interconnected transport networks• integrated approaches linking transport, energy, environment, and policy• governance, decision support, and science-based strategies for resilient low-carbon transport systemsBy bringing together researchers from environmental science, geoscience, transport, energy, and sustainability-related disciplines, this Research Topic aims to strengthen scientific cooperation and advance knowledge that can support more environmentally responsive and socially relevant transport systems. Topic editors: Oleksiy Melnyk, Piotr Gorzelanczyk, Svitlana Onyshchenko Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/79542/environmental-sustainability-of-global-transport-systems-impacts-innovations-and-pathways-to-resilient-low-carbon-mobility