Decarbonising Pathways for Freight Transport in the Philippines

The project’s first explored the freight transport context in the Philippines. In collaboration with the Department of Transportation (DoTr), the ITF conducted a fact-finding mission to discuss relevant topics on freight transport with local experts and collect relevant information and data for the next steps. This allowed for a comprehensive understanding of the current situation of the freight transport system in the Philippines, including policy priorities and ongoing initiatives.

Second, ITF conducted a quantitive assessment of decarbonising pathways for the Philippines. A virtual stakeholder workshop helped design future policy pathways, including a baseline scenario consisting of current and committed policies and alternative scenarios with more ambitious decarbonising policy measures. A baseline scenario reflects the most likely future for the Philippines if no further plans are established, or no other measures are taken to reduce transport CO2 emissions. A Green Fleet scenario assumes the introduction of additional fleet measures to better align the Philippines’ transport CO2 emissions with reaching the Paris Agreement on climate change mitigation. A Seamless Intermodality scenario explores introducing additional measures to improve intermodality to help reach Paris Agreement goals.

The ITF then built on the ITF’s Global Freight Model to develop a tailored scenario visualisation tool for the Philippines. This allows assessment of the impact of various policy measures on freight transport demand, mode shares and CO2 emissions. The model provides guidance on the most effective way to achieve the Philippines' climate goals. In addition, a technical training session presented ITF’s methodology, the scenario visualisation tool, and the results of the quantitative analysis.

Finally, best practices for low-carbon freight transport systems were disseminated, along with DoTr, to stakeholders in the Philippines and the Southeast Asia region. The ITF and the DOTr organised a joint final dissemination event in Manila.

This work is part of the Sustainable Infrastructure Programme in Asia – Transport (SIPA-T) project which helps decision-makers in Central and Southeast Asia to identify ways to enhance the efficiency and sustainability of transport networks.