The Energy Efficiency and Climate Change Mitigation in the Land Transport Sector in the ASEAN region’s Booth at SETA 2016

Organised by the Thai Ministry of Energy, the Ministry of Science & Technology and the Ministry of Transport, Sustainable Energy & Technology Asia or SETA aims to become an annual multi-day event fostering knowledge-sharing and networking between international governmental and industrial energy and technology experts. The Energy Efficiency and Climate Change Mitigation in the Land Transport Sector in the ASEAN region (in short, Transport and Climate Change: TCC) team took part in the first SETA exhibition and conference, which was held at the BITEC on March 23-25, 2016.

TCC contributed to SETA 2016 by not only providing up-to-date information on project activities in the field of sustainable transport to interested booth visitors, but also by organising three different sessions under Transportation and Alternative Fuels, covering the major areas in which the TCC project is working with the aim of increasing energy efficiency and climate change mitigation in the land transport sector.

Session 1: Fuel Efficiency Policy for the Transport Sector in the ASEAN Region
Alex Koerner – who is currently supporting a fuel efficiency report on Thailand and Vietnam for TCC – gave an overview of common fuel economy policies implemented by different countries around the world. He stressed the importance of pursuing technology-neutral instruments to achieve the most efficient outcomes, and also argued that technology improvements will lead to less fuel consumption and more energy and CO_{2 savings}.

Session 2: Green Freight and Logistics
After Mr. Sumit Pokhrel from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) presented the GMS Green Freight Initiative, Roland Haas, director of the ASEAN-German Cities, Environment and Transport programme, detailed the significant potential for saving logistics costs in the ASEAN region. As such, TCC has been carrying out green freight activities in Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Vietnam. In particular, a new project on Sustainable Freight and Logistics Transport in the Greater Mekong Sub-Region (GMS), funded by the EU, supports small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in increasing their fuel efficiency, improving their safe-handling and accessing finance. The project also promotes truck labelling, green freight action plans and carbon foot printing.

Session 3: Towards Energy Efficient Two-Wheelers in ASEAN
Although two-wheelers, especially motorcycles, make up about half of the vehicle population in the ASEAN region, little policy attention is given to them. Malaysia-based Dr. Horizon Walker Gitano-Briggs – who is preparing a Stocktaking Report on Malaysia for TCC – discussed how two-wheelers consume much less fuel than cars and are thus more fuel-efficient. Motorcycle-only infrastructure such as motorcycle lanes and overpasses in Malaysia further improve two-wheeler ridership safety.
The sessions provided insights into the individual issues of fuel efficiency measures, green freight and two-wheelers. TCC has just entered its second project phase (2016-2018), and is thus continuing to promote sustainable transport development in the ASEAN region.

Visit our website for further information on presentations and proceedings.