Asia’s greenhouse gas emissions set to soar

According to a report entitled Energy Efficiency and Climate Change: Considerations for On-Road Transport in Asia, carbon dioxide emissions from vehicles are set to rise 3.4 times for China and 5.8 times for India, primarily due to development and growing urban populations. According to the World Health Organization, this could led to “as many as 537,000 premature deaths each year, as well as a rise in cardiopulmonary and respiratory illnesses.”

With the amount of growth and development taking place in Asia, the region will struggle to cope with air quality and climate change. Conferences such as the Better Air Quality Conference highlight the efforts that are taking place in toughening up on emissions, but Asian countries will need to translate talk into action. As Lew Fulton, a transport expert with the UN Environment Programme, explained to conferees, the challenge is immense:

We’re not only seeing increases in pollutant emissions. We’re seeing huge increases in fuel consumption which is coupled tightly with [carbon dioxide] emissions… It’s costing cities and countries ever increasing amounts of foreign exchange with the high oil proces that we’ve got.