Abstract:

Transportation is one of the most rapidly rising sources of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that increase often faster than GDP in developing countries like India. Public and private authorities, however, place a low priority on global issues such as GHG emissions, and as far as transport is concerned, are more concerned about serious problems arising in conjunction with its development and use. One reason is that the externalities associated with GHG damages tend to be much less than those associated with safety, congestion or air pollution, for example. Therefore, initiatives to restrain GHG emissions should be aligned closely with overall strategies to reform the transport sector.

The paper provides an understanding of the trends and challenges of on-road transportation in India, energy efficiency and climate change impacts and draws a synergy between local pollution and GHG emissions mitigation in India over the period to 2030. The paper begins with estimation of the quantity of CO2 emissions under a low and a high economic growth scenario over the projection period 2005-2030 and provides an assessment of different carbon mitigation policies that could be adopted that would have a beneficial impact on reducing CO2 and local pollutant emissions from the road transport sector in India. The policy scenarios considered include: (a) various measures to limit tail pipe emissions such as stricter vehicle emission standards, compulsory inspection and maintenance systems, use of alternative fuels, including biofuels, technology improvements and use of fuel economy standards, (b) measures to change travel behavior such as traffic demand management, promotion of public transport, more effective transport and land use planning, and (c) a range of possible fiscal measures and policies to both promote cleaner fuels and vehicles as well as change the pattern of private vehicle usage.

Presentation: http://www.cleanairnet.org/baq2006/1757/docs/SW32_3.ppt