Estimation of local pollutant and carbon dioxide emissions of road and rail transportation in the Philippines

The 2016 baseline road and rail transportation pollutant emissions in the Philippines using a bottom-up approach are estimated at 9.212 million tons and 377 tons, respectively, while CO₂ emissions are estimated at 97.6 million tons and 62,248 tons, respectively. Road transportation activity is estimated to be 231.53 billion vehicle-kilometers, where 58% is from motorcycles. Top pollutants are CO and VOC from motorcycles, tricycles and cars. Motorcycles contribute the largest share of CO₂ emissions. NOₓ and CO are major pollutants from rail transportation. Based on these results and the assessment of selected transport projects, the government may develop policies on major emitters of criteria pollutants and carbon dioxide, aside from improvement of public transportation. Furthermore, the study is limited in using average vehicle emission factors which need updating.