Low-emission transport to achieve the Paris Agreement in Latin America and the Caribbean: Progress and recommendations

The transport sector is one of the main contributors to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions worldwide, which makes it an area of opportunity for achieving the targets proposed in the Nationally Determined Contributions, or NDCs, under the Paris Agreement. In Latin America and the Caribbean, the transport sector is the biggest generator of CO2 by combustion, accounting for 37.7 percent of the total emissions, followed by the industrial sector at 28.2 percent and the residential sector at 13.6 percent.

This study aims to take stock of the progress in meeting national climate commitments in the transportation sector for 20 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. For this purpose, the NDCs have been placed into four main categories: transport supply, demand management, urban planning, and gender equality and social inclusion. In turn, the transport supply NDCs have been placed into four sub-categories, according to the mode of transport: public transport, freight transport, light vehicles (private transport) and non-motorized transport.

The study includes a set of recommendations to help accelerate the mitigation of GHG emissions and contribute to a comprehensive vision of how to address NDCs in the transport sector in the region.