ADB calls for curb on transport emissions in developing countries

Written by Nathan Green
Monday, 01 June 2009

WITHOUT immediate action, the transport sectors of developing countries will account for the overwhelming share of increased carbon dioxide emissions by 2030, according to a new declaration by the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

While developed countries are still responsible for the largest share of greenhouse gas emissions from the transport sector, emissions from developing countries - particularly in Asia - are growing rapidly.

Transport-related carbon dioxide emissions are expected to increase 57 percent from 2005 to 2030, with transport sectors in developing countries expected to contribute about 80 percent of this increase, the Bellagio Declaration on Transportation and Climate Change said.

Most GHG emissions in the transport sector and virtually all the expected growth in emissions come from private cars and trucks.

Key principles
The declaration, which outlines how the transport sectors in developing countries can reduce future greenhouse gas emissions, is the result of a three-day conference in Bellagio, Italy, last month. It calls on governments and the transport industry to embrace a range of key principles.

These include reducing the need for travel through better integration of land use and transport; more effective use of carbon finance mechanisms to fund sustainable transport policies; and recognition of the benefits of low-carbon transport in reducing the local air pollution, noise, congestion and road accidents that define many urban areas.

"The Bellagio Meeting will greatly help ADB to develop its Sustainable Transport Initiative, which aims to help Asian countries change their transport investment patterns and secure a low-carbon, sustainable transport future," WooChong Um, Director of ADB's Energy, Transport and Water Division said in a media statement.

The Bellagio meeting, which was held in mid-May, was organised by the ADB and the Clean Air Institute, and supported by the Rockefeller Foundation. It also helped build consensus on how transport sector policies must be reflected in the upcoming UN Climate Change discussions in Copenhagen in December, the media statement said.