Green Freight and Logistics Development in the Mekong Region

Freight transportation is critical to businesses, consumers, and the world economy. The freight sector moves vast volumes of goods, commodities, materials, and food domestically and globally and is a primary factor in the economy and growth. But a goods movement comes with an impact on the global environment. It contributes a significant portion of air pollution and its contribution is expected to grow significantly in the coming years. Globally, carbon dioxide (CO) emissions from freight transport are growing more quickly than those from passenger vehicles. In particular, heavy-duty vehicles are expected to be the largest emitter of CO2 from all transport modes by 2035.

As the Asian economy continues to grow at a rapid pace, an increase in freight transport activity is also expected. It is estimated that by the year 2050, medium and heavy freight trucks worldwide will consume 1,240 billion litres of fuel, which is estimated at 138% more than 2000 levels. The global share of trucks operating within Asian countries is expected to increase from 19% in 2000 to 34% in 2050.The Mekong Institute (MI) is implementing a three-year project on “Green Freight and Logistics Development in Mekong countries’ funded by the Republic of Korea through the Mekong – Republic of Korea Cooperation Fund (MKCF). The long-term objective of the project is to reduce the cost of logistics and transport to improve economic performance in the five countries in Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Vietnam and Thailand (CLMVT). This will eventually aid the transport sector to increase its contribution to economic development in the Mekong countries as well reduce its carbon footprint. Read more...