GHG emissions from the transport sector in Oman: Trends and potential decarbonization pathways

Abstract

The Gulf Cooperation Council, despite being the home for the world's largest oil and gas reserves and the highest per capita GDP, the Greenhouse Gas emissions from transportation remain poorly understood, and a missing piece in the puzzle of reduction policies. This paper uses Oman as a Gulf Cooperation Council Countries representative model, with a transport-fuel policy to reveal carbon growth from the transportation sector and to examine feasible paths for carbon-neutral mobility. This study uses IPCC guidelines and methodology of 2006 for the assessment of the GHG emissions trends of transportations modes from 2000 to 2015. The results of the analysis indicating that the share of transport emissions in Oman's total GHG emissions has doubled from 8.1% in 2000 to 16.3% in 2015. Transportation emissions became the third larger contributor to overall greenhouse gas emissions in Oman, after the oil and natural gas (26%) and energy industries (20%). Road transport is the biggest contributor to transport sector emissions, and their contribution to total transport emissions increased from 66% in 2000 to 92% in 2015. Carbon emission from the transportation sector will continue to grow steadily due to the high demand for transportation by a growing population. The cheap availability of fuel and affordable car costs, given the limited public transport, will persist as driving factors of the ongoing rise in carbon emission from transportation. Therefore, curbing emission from the Omani transportation system should take place in the socio-economic context of the country through phasing out the fuel subsidies system, developing a reliable public transport system, planning for the electrification of road transportation, and using rail for freight transportation.