How Standardization Will Balance Sustainability Goals in the Transport Component of Energy Supply Chains: Efficiency versus Environmental Safety

Society will likely intensify demands on all supply chain participants to facilitate attainment of two seemingly conflicting sustainability goals: economic and environmental. Critics argue these goals are stubbornly irreconcilable tradeoffs. However, there is significant evidence of their complementarity. This article discusses how many opposing public‐policy forces interact to impose the appearance of daunting contradiction. The policy analysis demonstrated here offers a logical path out of the apparent morass. It is argued that the advantages of standardization for key energy supply chain elements can harmonize these existing and other emerging interests, both foreseeable and unforeseeable. The crude‐by‐rail controversy illustrates how these standardization matters impact national energy policy.