Mobility
The transportation sector accounts for more than 15% of global emissions of Earth-warming gases, of which three quarter is caused by road transport. The electrification of road mobility, led by Chinese electric vehicle and battery companies, is expected to play a major role in decarbonizing transportation.
Yet, Asia's mobility landscape is diverse, encompassing extensive rail and transit networks across South and East Asia. Indian Railways carries about eight billion passengers a year between over 7,000 stations, making it the world’s busiest passenger railway system. In Japan, the 350-kilometer Tokyo subway system is widely considered to be one of the most advanced in the world.
The following are excerpts from reports conducted on mobility in Asia.
All images © Sebastian Castelier
Riding Past the Bus Stigma
Kuwait 🇰🇼 - West Asian cities, planned with low-density and a focus on private vehicles, are highly car-centric. In Kuwait, where highways define the urban landscape, there were 445 cars per 1,000 people as of 2019. While a metro project, discussed since the 2000s, never got off the ground, a bus network operates. But Kuwaitis shun it, influenced by the prevailing social stereotype that buses are for 'the others', foreign workers.
Kuwaiti activist Jassim Al Awadhi co-leads an evening session teaching students how to use the bus network. "It was my first time being on a bus in Kuwait. Until today, I was afraid of buses, in my mind it was frightening, the lighting was dim, there was no air conditioning, it wasn't clean", said Raghad AlEnezi, 23. Yet mobility in Kuwait - whether by car or bus - remains entirely dependent on oil-based fuels. In 2022, CO2 intensive petroleum products made up 100% of transport energy use in the emirate.
vulnerability to imported fossil fuels
Sri Lanka 🇱🇰 - Oil imports - over 80% of which are used by the transport sector - form the backbone of mobility in Sri Lanka. In 2022, the South Asian country was hit by a crisis that depleted foreign exchange reserves, leaving Colombo unable to shoulder the cost of oil imports. Within weeks, petrol stations shut down, and the cost of a high dependence on fossil fuels imported from West Asia became starkly visible in everyday life.
“I have lined up at this station since yesterday, but I did not move an inch. Maybe tomorrow they will have fuel, who knows.” said Samith Da Santa Perreira, 43, a rickshaw driver. The crisis, exacerbated by the burden of fossil fuels imports, ended in a political change after President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the country. As a response, Sri Lanka announced a plan to convert about 40% of its 1.2 million rickshaws fleet to electric tuk-tuks in a bid to regain control over its import-heavy energy supply.
Move 1,5 billion people around
India 🇮🇳 - Mobility in the world's most populous nation has a vast environmental impact as fossil fuels account for more than 95% of the energy consumed by its transport sector. The amount of oil consumed annually in India to fuel hundreds of millions of two-wheelers, cars, buses, rickshaws, trucks and agricultural vehicles tripled in the two decades leading to 2022.
But the cost of moving 1,5 billion people around in oil-powered vehicles, and the widespread use of coal for power generation, is emerging as a public health matter. 100% of Indian citizens breathe polluted air, which contains on average ten times more tiny airborne particles - known as PM2.5 - than the World Health Organization guideline. These dangerous pollution levels significantly raise the risk of health issues like cardiovascular problems, respiratory inflammation and cancers, and are thought to cause an additional 1.5 million deaths yearly in India.
