Implementing Clean Energy Transitions

Focus on road transport in emerging economies

Photo depicts traffic, captured with blurred motion as light trails, rush along Sudirman street in Jakarta business district at night in Indonesia capital city.

About this report

This report assesses the impact of the road transport sector on energy demand, CO2 emissions and air pollution in several selected major emerging economies over the coming decades under several IEA modelling scenarios. Most notably the Announced Pledges Scenario (APS) aims to show to what extent announced ambitions and targets, including the most recent ones, are on the path to deliver emissions reductions required to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.

Bringing about a road transport decarbonisation pathway in line with the APS in the selected major emerging economies - Brazil, People’s Republic of China, India, Indonesia, Mexico and South Africa - will require significant enhancement of existing policies and the introduction of new innovative policies and measures in each of selected countries. Our report sets out six policy areas critical to the achievement of the road transport transitions and a series of recommendations for strengthening financing for the sector.

Importantly, the report provides detailed reference to a wide range of policy measures and good practice already in place in many major emerging economies elsewhere to facilitate knowledge sharing among countries. It also places a special emphasis on the road transport sectors of India and Indonesia. These countries are IEA partners in their respective regions and benefit from an enhanced programme of work.

This road transport policy library aims to identify the key implemented policies in selected emerging economies, namely Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, and South Africa, in order to assess where gaps may arise and help governments and policymakers to explore other international policy experiences.

The library groups transport policies within three overarching categories:

  • Regulation, incl. standards and mandates: This includes fuel-economy standards, emission standards, blending mandates, charging standards and EV mandates. 
  • Incentives: This includes for both cases incentives for electric vehicle, modal shift, biofuels and scrappage schemes. Fuel excise taxes and carbon pricing are also included in this category.
  • Information: This includes policies and initiatives focused on informing consumers, training, and networking.

This library builts on the joint IEA/IRENA Policy and Measures database. This library may not be comprehensive, and its content will be updated regularly.

For more information, questions or suggestions about new policies to include, please do contact us at policies@iea.org.


Regulation, including standards and mandates

Incentives

Information