Low Carbon Transport in Asia Strategies for Optimizing Co-benefits

About this book

Without the effective participation of developing Asia, a climate crisis is certain. Within developing Asia, the key to averting such a crisis lies in low carbon transport. China, India and Asia's other emerging economies could promote fuel efficient vehicles, public transport, and sustainable urban planning. Or they could become locked into inefficient vehicles, energy intensive infrastructure, and suburban sprawl. The path they choose will have long-term implications for the entire world. And it will depend upon the extent to which they adopt a co-benefit approach.

A co-benefit approach involves recognizing that some transport policies mitigate greenhouse gases while simultaneously improving urban air quality, commuting times and energy security. Accounting for these additional benefits can overcome a reluctance to bear the costs of climate actions. But it also presents unique technical, financial, and institutional challenges to decision-makers unaccustomed to optimizing multiple benefits. The book represents a pioneering effort to identify and remove barriers to a co-benefit approach in developing Asia's transport sector.

The introductory section makes the case for co-benefits in developing Asia's transport sector. The second section features analytical frameworks to identify strategies with potential co-benefits, offering new findings on black carbon and dieselization. The third section grounds the analytic work in case studies on fuel switching in Pakistan, urban planning in Bandung, Indonesia, congestion charges in Beijing, vehicle restraints in Hanoi and bus rapid transit in Jakarta. A final section examines how the climate regime can help transform a rapidly motorizing Asia into a climate-friendly Asia.

This book is essential reading for transport policy makers, planners, and researchers concerned with low carbon transport, climate change and development in Asia and the wider world.

Contents

Foreword

Part I: Introduction
1. Low Carbon Transport in Asia: Strategies for Optimizing Co-benefits

Part II: Analytical Frameworks
2. Transport Co-benefits in Asia: A Synthesis of the Literature
3. An Integrated Policy Strategy for the Co-benefits of Dieselization in Asia
4. Reducing Particulate Matter Emissions from Buses and Trucks in Asia

Part III: Case Studies
5. Public Transport Solutions in Hanoi, Vietnam
6. Transport Demand Management in Beijing, China: Progress and Challenges
7. The Co-benefits of Air Quality Management in Hyderabad, India
8. Capturing Co-benefits through Land Use: A Case Study from Bandung, Indonesia
9. Fuel Switch Policies in Pakistan: A Case Study of Compressed Natural Gas
10. Realizing the Co-benefits of Bus Rapid Transit: A Case Study from Jakarta
11. Promoting the Co-benefits approach through ODA: Case study from Japan

Part IV: The Way Forward
12. Transportation Co-benefits and Implications for the Future Climate Regime
13. Climate-Friendly Transport in Asia: A Way Forward

Customer Reviews

Biography

Ancha Srinivasan is Principal Researcher and Manager of the Climate Policy Project at the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES); Ph.D. University of Cambridge, UK.

Shobhakar Dhakal is Executive Director of the Global Carbon Project hosted by National Institute of Environmental Studies (NIES) Tsukuba (Japan); Ph.D. The University of Tokyo

Eric Zusman is Climate Policy Researcher at the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES); Ph.D. in Political Science from The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)