Three-quarters of transport-related greenhouse gas emissions across the Indo-Pacific come from road transport, a 360info analysis of figures from independent greenhouse gas trackers Climate Trace shows.
While aviation is a substantial contributor to greenhouse gas emissions despite only being used by a fraction of the population, road transport is the biggest single contributor to transport emissions across the region.
The emissions of the Indo-Pacific as a whole are in large part dictated by China and India, which together represent about two-thirds of the emissions and the people in the region.
But transport makes up less than one-tenth of each of their individual emissions mix.
For many other countries, like Malaysia and Australia, transport represents a larger slice of the pie — as much as one-fifth of their emissions. Search for a country below to see its emissions breakdown.
When we compare large countries and small countries to see which emit the most greenhouse gases per person, China and India fall into the middle pack, overtaken by the most developed economies of the region.
For most Indo-Pacific countries, transport emissions are dominated by road transport, which includes both passenger transport and freight, like trucks. But there are exceptions.
Many global shipping and air routes go through Singapore, for example, contributing to that country’s high shipping and aviation emissions profiles. Some others also see a hefty contribution from international aviation or shipping, either because a lot of global traffic goes through their airports too or because they need to fly goods in.
For international flights and shipping, Climate Trace splits the emissions between the origin and the destination countries.
With emissions higher than ever following the Covid-19 pandemic, it’s clear that reducing transport emissions is still a big obstacle to many countries reaching net zero and following through on their Paris Agreement commitments.
Originally published under Creative Commons by 360info™.
