- Reducing CO2 emissions through the development of a sustainable urban transportation system: the Trinidad case study    892 kb by    Leung, Kira Lise | kiralise@hotmail.com    Short Outline Trinidad’s high CO2 emissions compromise its environmental resilience and future development. This paper therefore prescribes city design strategies and transportation management approaches of relevance to cities seeking to reduce carbon emissions. Abstract Although Trinidad is a small developing island state, its carbon dioxide emissions per capita are on par with the US and are significantly higher than those found in the Caribbean, much of Europe and Latin America. While energy related industries account for the majority of GHG emissions, the road transportation sector is responsible for in excess of 10% of the total CO2 emissions i.e. more than 2 tonnes of CO2 per capita from transportation alone. This phenomenon has been attributed to the availability of cheap fuel, excessive importation of foreign second-hand cars, poor public impressions of the public transport system, unsustainable urban form, and topography. While Trinidad’s contribution to global carbon dioxide emissions may be insignificant due to its small size and population, its extravagant use of its energy resources severely compromises its environmental resilience and the potential for sustainable development. As such, this paper sets out firstly to identify the reasons why road transportation contributes so heavily to the island’s high CO2 emissions. Secondly, it seeks to understand how the present transport system compromises the well-being of the environment, economy and society. Finally, it determines the obstacles that prevent the realization of a sustainable urban transportation system, and prescribes design strategies and transportation management approaches that are of relevance to Trinidad, as well as other cities wishing to reduce CO2 emissions. Keywords carbon emissions, Trinidad, environmental resilience, city design, transportation management Case Study presented on the ISOCARP Congress 2009: Low Carbon Cities   Click to open the full paper as pdf document   Click to send an email to the author(s) of this paper