Skip to main content

New ITF Projections for urban mobility in China, India, Latin America

Transport in the urban centres of emerging economies is becoming a major battleground for combating climate change. Projections presented by ITF Economist Aimée Aguilar Jaber during the COP 20 climate change negotiations in Lima, Peru indicate that big cities in China, India and Latin America with over 500,000 inhabitants will more than double their share of world passenger transport emissions by 2050 to 20 per cent, from nine per cent in 2010, if current urban transport policies remain unchanged. 38 pe
December 19, 2014 Read time: 2 mins
Transport in the urban centres of emerging economies is becoming a major battleground for combating climate change.

Projections presented by ITF Economist Aimée Aguilar Jaber during the COP 20 climate change negotiations in Lima, Peru indicate that big cities in China, India and Latin America with over 500,000 inhabitants will more than double their share of world passenger transport emissions by 2050 to 20 per cent, from nine per cent in 2010, if current urban transport policies remain unchanged. 38 per cent of the total growth in world surface transport passenger emissions to 2050 will come from big cities in these three regions in such a business-as-usual scenario.

These new projections, released by ITF for the event, highlight a critical choice for policy-makers: whether to pursue urbanisation based on public transport or on private transport with cars and two wheelers. Sustained policies that promote either private or public urban transport lead to very different mobility futures, as projections for modal shares in 2050 show (see charts, left).

These alternative scenarios have profound impacts for the contribution of urban transport to global emissions that are detailed in the 2015 ITF Transport Outlook, of which chapter 4 containing the projections for China, India and Latin America was pre-released for the COP20 conference.

The projections were presented by ITF Economist Aimée Aguilar Jaber during the Side Event "Mitigation Potential of Urban Sustainable Low-Carbon Transport: Priorities for INDCs, NAMAs and SDGs" on 4 December, jointly organised by the 5466 Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP) and ITF.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Conscience versus convenience
    June 8, 2015
    David Crawford looks at new ways forward for public transport. By 2025, nearly 60% of the world’s population will be living in towns and cities, increasing their extent and density, and the journeys that people make within and between them. In response, the International Association of Public Transport (UITP) wants to see public transport’s global modal share doubling (PTx2) by the same date. “Success in 2025,” a spokesperson told ITS International, “will save 170 million tonnes of oil equivalent and 550
  • Sustainable mobility? Only possible with a multifaceted approach
    May 25, 2023
    ITS European Congress 2023 was scene for 'full and frank exchange of views'
  • Intertraffic Mexico puts spotlight on ITS innovation
    November 13, 2018
    Intertraffic Mexico will highlight best practices from the traffic technology and mobility industry at an event which is expected to host 4,000 ITS professionals this week. Laura Barrera, director of Intertraffic Mexico, says the third edition will recognise companies and organisations that contribute actively to solving mobility challenges. "We want to highlight innovative projects in the industry, which is why we hold the second edition of the Intertraffic Award Latin America,” Barrera adds. In
  • Peru lines up road, rail concessions for 2015
    November 20, 2014
    Peru plans to award next year infrastructure concessions including rail and road projects. Hydro and thermal power plants and liquefied petroleum gas distribution in the capital are also being lined up, a senior government official has said. Concessions will include the fourth stretch of the Longitudinal de la Sierra highway, which calls for the construction, operation and maintenance of a 640 kilometre stretch of Peru's Longitudinal de la Sierra highway, connecting Huancayo, Izcuchaca, Mayoc and Ayacuch