Analysis of CO2 emissions reduction in the Malaysian transportation sector: An optimisation approach

The demand for transport services is expected to rise, causing the CO2 emissions level to increase as well. In Malaysia, the transportation sector accounts for 28% of total CO2 emissions, of which 85% comes from road transport. By 2020, Malaysia is targeting a reduction in CO2 emissions intensity by up to 40% and in this effort the role of road transport is paramount. This paper attempts to investigate effective policy options that can assist Malaysia in reducing the CO2 emissions level. An Optimisation model is developed to estimate the potential CO2 emissions mitigation strategies for road transport by minimising the CO2 emissions under the constraint of fuel cost and demand travel. Several mitigation strategies have been applied to analyse the effect of CO2 emissions reduction potential. The results demonstrate that removal of fuel price subsidies can result in reductions of up to 652 ktonnes of fuel consumption and CO2 emissions can be decreased by 6.55%, which would enable Malaysia to hit its target by 2020. CO2 emissions can be reduced significantly, up to 20%, by employing a combination of mitigation policies in Malaysia. This suggests that appropriate mitigation policies can assist the country in its quest to achieve the CO2 emissions reduction target. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.