Freight transport accounts for approximately 26% of total greenhouse gas emissions in Poland (data: GUS 2024 environmental statistics). Road haulage — trucks carrying goods between distribution centres, warehouses, and retail points — represents the largest share of that figure. The shift toward lower-emission shipping methods is driven by three overlapping forces: EU regulatory requirements, shipper sustainability commitments, and, increasingly, cost signals as carbon pricing under the EU ETS 2 mechanism extends to road transport from 2027.
This article maps the freight approaches gaining traction in Poland, the measurement frameworks used to quantify their environmental impact, and the practical constraints shaping adoption timelines.
Rail intermodal freight
Rail emits roughly 8–10 grams of CO₂ per tonne-kilometre in Poland, compared to 80–120 grams for a Euro VI diesel truck on the same corridor — a factor of 8–12× lower. Poland's rail freight network, operated primarily by PKP Cargo and private operators including DB Cargo Polska and CTL Logistics, handled 196 million tonnes of goods in 2024, with intermodal (container-on-flatcar) volumes growing 9% year-on-year.
The main intermodal terminals serving national distribution are located in Warsaw (Małaszewicze), Łódź, Poznań, Wrocław, and the Silesian conurbation. Transit times on rail are longer than road for most domestic O-D pairs, typically adding 12–36 hours for distances above 400 km. For freight that is not time-critical — bulk consumer goods, building materials, automotive components — the modal shift calculus increasingly favours rail when carbon cost is internalised.
Bottlenecks
Line capacity constraints on the central Polish rail network (Warsaw–Katowice, Warsaw–Poznań) limit intermodal growth for high-frequency shippers. The rail freight sector also faces competition for track time from passenger services on major corridors. Investment in new dedicated freight corridors is included in the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (KPO), with works on the Rail Freight Corridor 5 (Baltic-Adriatic) progressing through 2026.
Electric and alternative-fuel last-mile delivery
Last-mile delivery — the final leg from urban consolidation centre to end recipient — is where electric vehicles are most economically competitive today. The short duty cycles (typically 100–180 km per day in urban environments), predictable routes, and depot-based overnight charging align well with current battery electric vehicle (BEV) range and charging infrastructure.
In Poland, DPD, InPost, and DHL Express have committed to 100% electric last-mile delivery in Warsaw's city centre by 2027 and in all major urban areas (cities above 200,000 inhabitants) by 2030. InPost's parcel locker network, which now covers over 22,000 locations in Poland, already reduces per-parcel delivery distance by concentrating drops — a structural emissions reduction independent of vehicle type.
Natural gas (CNG and LNG) trucks are an intermediate option for long-haul routes where BEV range is insufficient. Approximately 2,400 CNG trucks operated on Polish roads in 2024 according to the Polish Automotive Industry Association (PZPM). Their emission advantage over diesel is modest (10–20% CO₂ reduction on a well-to-wheel basis using grid gas), but the infrastructure — CNG filling stations at 180+ locations nationally — is more developed than for hydrogen.
ISO 14083 and emission accounting
ISO 14083:2023, published in March 2023, establishes a harmonised methodology for calculating greenhouse gas emissions from freight and passenger transport chains. It replaces a fragmented landscape of carrier-specific and industry-group methodologies and aligns with the EU's requirements under the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) and the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD).
Key principles of ISO 14083 relevant to Polish shippers:
- Well-to-wheel (WtW) accounting: Emissions from fuel or electricity production are included, not only tank-to-wheel combustion. This makes the electricity mix critical: a BEV charged from the Polish grid (which was 67% coal-based in 2024) carries higher lifecycle emissions than the same vehicle in France or Norway.
- Tonne-kilometre allocation: Emissions are allocated to shipments based on weight and distance carried. Consolidation of shipments from multiple origins in a single trailer reduces the allocated emission per unit.
- Primary vs. default data: The standard distinguishes between primary activity data (carrier's actual fuel consumption records) and default emission factors. Primary data yields more accurate and usually lower figures; default factors are conservative by design.
Under the CSRD, large Polish enterprises (listed companies and large unlisted companies meeting two of three size thresholds) must report Scope 3 emissions from 2026 reporting years. Freight transport is a mandatory Scope 3 Category 4 (upstream) or Category 9 (downstream) disclosure. Carriers unable to supply ISO 14083-compliant emission data to their customers will face disadvantage in procurement decisions from CSRD-obligated shippers.
Packaging weight as a shipping emissions variable
Reducing packaging weight directly reduces the tonne-kilometre figure to which freight emissions are allocated. A shift from a 500g glass jar to a 35g flexible pouch for the same product volume reduces the packaged weight by over 90% and proportionally reduces the Scope 3 Category 4 transport emission attributed to that product unit. This connection between packaging design decisions and logistics emissions is often not visible in siloed procurement departments but becomes apparent when supply chain emissions are modelled end-to-end.
Polish FMCG manufacturers working toward CSRD compliance in 2026 and 2027 are beginning to quantify these linkages systematically. The results — packaging weight reduction as a logistics decarbonisation lever — are already influencing material specification decisions in categories where weight reduction is technically feasible without product damage risk.
Resources and further context
For current rail freight capacity and intermodal terminal data, PKP PLK publishes the national rail network capacity documentation at plk-sa.pl. The European Environment Agency transport data portal provides emission factors by mode updated annually. ISO 14083 is available through the Polish Committee for Standardization (PKN).
Further reading: Biodegradable Packaging Materials: A Practical Field Guide · Circular Packaging Design: Principles and Polish Case Studies
