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THE ADVERSE impacts of urban transport on the environment needs to be tackled on a global scale, an eminent expert in the transport field said yesterday.

Professor Hideo Nakamura, President of Musashi Institute of Technology in Japan, told this to an audience of ADB staff members and guests from Philippine government agencies, academic and research institutions, embassies, and donor agencies, gathered for the Eminent Speaker’s Forum hosted by ADB’s Regional and Sustainable Development Department (RSDD).

A prominent figure in the transport field, Prof. Nakamura was awarded the Dupuit Prize by the World Conference on Transport Research Society in 2004, where he served as President from 1998 to 2001. The Musashi Institute of Technology is well respected for its work in engineering, environmental, and information studies.

The professor explained that increase in car ownership is inevitable with rising incomes in developing countries, and because of the relatively low variable cost compared with the high fixed cost involved, cars are used extensively. As a result, greenhouse gas emissions in developing countries are increasing at a rate three times faster than in developed countries.

In fact, greenhouse gas emissions from the transport sector have increased significantly since 1990, with emissions per passenger-kilometer from passenger cars being the biggest. “Mobility is a basic need in the present world,” he said. Yet, the professor emphasized, “Greenhouse gas reduction is essential for society to enjoy mobility in the future.”

In developing countries, main policy measures pursued to reduce greenhouse gas emissions involve the development of infrastructure such as roads and public transport. Much of development assistance is plowed into relieving traffic congestion, improving traffic safety, and reducing air pollution, and so energy savings and reduced emissions are realized to a certain extent.

However, existing infrastructure, technologies, and institutional systems for greenhouse gas control in developing countries are insufficient. “Control of greenhouse gas emissions is only feasible in developing countries when it is consistent with other important economic and social directions,” he explained, and added that technology from developed countries can play an important role.

He noted that in developed countries such as the US, Japan, and in Europe, policy measures like promotion of clean energy and low emission vehicles, use of public transport, efficiency of freight transport, and improvement of traffic systems lead to lower pollutants without conflicting with the key objectives of transport – economic efficiency, safety, comfort and equity.

The Clean Development Mechanism, where developed countries can count for themselves greenhouse gas emission reductions in developing countries as a result of projects they have funded, helps. However, he said, a tremendous amount is still needed, which developing countries cannot provide.

He proposed a new scheme to preserve the global environment, which could support a wider spread of measures to effectively reduce emissions such as low emission and clean energy vehicles, as well as improved infrastructure.

“A substantial fund for measures in the transport sector is necessary,” he says. “If every car in the world paid $10 per year, $7 billion could be available for an environment fund.”

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