OPTIMIZING DELIVERY ROUTES, ENHANCING SUPPLY CHAIN EFFICIENCY, AND INVESTING IN INFRASTRUCTURE: A STRATEGIC APPROACH TO REDUCING CARBON EMISSIONS FROM THE TRANSPORT SECTOR

The main objective of this research is to get a better understanding of the carbon emissions produced by last-mile delivery, the impact of various vehicle types on these emissions, effective route efficiency, the role of urban infrastructure, and the optimization strategies in reducing emissions in Pakistan's transportation sector by using data from 1996 to 2022. It examines economic and environmental benefits. The ARDL results show that distribution route optimization reduces emissions over time, while alternative energy consumption, distribution density, and infrastructure investment reduce transportation emissions. Optimizing delivery routes reduced transportation emissions over time, demonstrating the importance of sustainable logistics in environmental issues. Granger causality estimations show that delivery density affects route optimization, infrastructure investment, supply chain efficiency, and alternative energy use. This shows how environmental sustainability methods rely on one another. A variance decomposition analysis indicates that alternative energy consumption, distribution density, and infrastructure investment will likely affect transport emissions variance over time. The research recommends that logistics businesses, governments, and politicians improve last-mile delivery operations and dramatically cut carbon emissions. The study provides practical solutions to environmental issues in urban goods transportation in Pakistan and advances sustainable logistics management.