What is a Carbon Neutral Transport Corridor? - Greater Mekong ...

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Greater Mekong Subregion Core Environment Program and Biodiversity Conservation Corridors Initiative Neutral Transport Corridor is proposed. Finally, some initiatives and policies are suggested as possible ways to develop a CNTC. 1.2 Transport corridors and carbon emissions in the GMS It is widely accepted that transport is one of the main drivers for the increase in greenhouse gas emissions and a changing global climate. Globally, transport was responsible for 13% of greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) in 2006 4 . Across the GMS countries, average transport related GHGs have been seen to be lower than the global average 5 (see Figure 1). However, various forecasts of future trends show that within South and Southeast Asia transport related emissions will see a three to five fold increase by 2030 (if no new policies are introduced to tackle these emissions), making Asia responsible for 31% of global transport emissions by 2030 6 . This increase in transport emissions has been attributed mainly to increasing numbers of light duty vehicles (passenger cars and smaller road freight vehicles) and heavy goods vehicles (larger road freight vehicles). 40.0 35.0 30.0 25.0 20.0 15.0 10.0 5.0 0.0 GHGs from transport as a percentage of overall GHGs in 2001 Viet Nam Myanmar Thailand China* GMS average Source: World Resources Institute, 2005 *This is the total for the People’s Republic of China as a whole. Global average Figure 1: Greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector in the GMS The initial focus of the economic corridors within the GMS program has been on improving road 4 International Energy Agency, 2008. World Energy Outlook 2008. IEA: Paris. 5 This figure is based on 1994 data and excludes Lao PDR and Myanmar due to a lack of disaggregated GHG data (UNSTAT, 2009). 6 Schipper, L., Fabian, H., and Leather, J., 2009. Transport and Carbon Dioxide Emissions: Forecasts, Options Analysis, and Evaluation. ADB Sustainable Development Working Paper Series. ADB: Manila. Draft Concept Paper – What is a Carbon Neutral Transport Corridor? 25 th November 2010 Page 2
Greater Mekong Subregion Core Environment Program and Biodiversity Conservation Corridors Initiative links along certain routes so as to create continuous land access connecting the main development hubs in the region. Each of the GMS transport corridors, therefore, includes a number of road and highway development projects to upgrade and consolidate the continuous land routes. An CEP-BCI prefeasibility study of one of the transport corridors being established across Myanmar, Thailand, Lao PDR and Viet Nam (GMS East West Economic Corridor) shows that emissions from transport are estimated to be in the order of 1 million tonnes per year, of which just over half is attributable to freight traffic 7 . This is a significant amount and is equivalent to 0.6% of Thailand’s, 2.1% of Vietnam’s and 14% of Myanmar’s annual emissions in 2001. The CEP-BCI study found that in order to sequester these emissions 150,000 ha of land would be required. The estimate for the East West Economic Corridor (EWEC) takes into account only the direct emissions arising from traffic, and not the emissions that would arise as a result of the development that would accompany better transport links in the area (changes to land use, more industry and production in the area, deforestation etc.) nor the emissions arising from construction activity. Factoring in these potential emissions sources could increase the forecast emissions from the corridor significantly 8 . The overall carbon emissions and related impacts of these transportation corridors are likely to be considerable. There is a need for initiatives to address these. 1.3 What is a Carbon Neutral project? The UN defines climate neutrality as ‘a way of living’ that produces zero net greenhouse gas emissions. UN (2008) specifies that climate neutrality can be achieved by first reducing emissions resulting from an activity and then offsetting any residual emissions. An extension of the climate or carbon neutral concept is that of ‘carbon neutral infrastructure’ or ‘zero carbon infrastructure’, where energy efficiency measures are used to reduce the emissions from an infrastructure project, and remaining energy demand is met using renewable energy. The main weakness of the carbon neutral approach is that by including offsetting in the definition, responsibility for emissions can be displaced and there is a risk that a project achieves its carbon neutral status without reducing any emissions overall. Also, due to the complexity in the nature of carbon accounting, and uncertainty in data collection, current projects around the world that aim to achieve ‘carbon neutral’ status only take into account the emissions resulting as a direct result of the operations of the infrastructure i.e. emissions arising due to the use of fossil fuels ‘on site’. The 7 Fraser, A., Linde, L., Kityuttachai, K and Tantasirin, C., 2007. Report on a preliminary assessment of the scope for implementing a Carbon Neutral Transport Corridor in the GMS. Environment Operations Center: Bangkok. 8 For example, a recent study of the carbon impacts across a selected portfolio of ADB funded transport projects highlighted that carbon emissions from construction activity can vary between 1% and 24% of the construction and operational emissions for a project. (Asian Development Bank, 2010. Reducing Carbon Emissions from Transport Projects. ADB: Manila.). Draft Concept Paper – What is a Carbon Neutral Transport Corridor? 25 th November 2010 Page 3
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