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Photo credit: ESCAP/ Chanju Lee Blog

With a population of around 4.9 billion people, the Asia-Pacific region is home to 63 per cent of the world’s inhabitants. As of 2021, the region accounts for around 37 per cent of global GDP (USD 35…

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A defining feature of the post-pandemic world is the digital transformation that has permeated every aspect of our lives. In the words of UN Secretary-General António Guterres, “…as we recover and…

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With COP27 ending last month in Egypt, the world’s attention has been laser-focused on the latest commitments from nation-states for solving humanity’s biggest challenge: climate change.

CO2…

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The inauguration of 414 km electrified standard gauge Lao-China railway line has a potential to change the dynamics of international transport among the ASEAN member States and beyond.

The railway…

A New Energy Bus in Beijing (Photo Credit: Yijia Cheng) Blog

The recently concluded United Nations Climate Change Conference 2021, or COP26, in Glasgow, recognized that rapid, deep and sustained reductions in global greenhouse gas emissions, including CO2, are…

Photo credit: Alexey Kravchenko Blog

In July 2021, the European Commission (EC) announced a proposal to implement a Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) on energy-intensive imports from third countries. The proposed CBAM would…

Photo credit: Jonas Flake Blog

It is widely believed that the biggest contribution of trade to climate change is from transport-related greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Indeed, as reported in the Asia-Pacific Trade and Investment…

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The COVID-19 pandemic has drastically changed our lives and its impact will be felt for a long time to come. The transport sector has also been hit hard by reduced demand for transport services as…

iStock / 2e812ac3_768 Blog

The COVID-19 pandemic is having a deep impact on transport connectivity in the region as documented in the recent ESCAP Policy Brief on Policy Reponses to Covid-19: Transport Connectivity in Asia and…

alex_aladdin/Shutterstock.com Blog

In 1814, George Stephenson constructed the first steam locomotive that led to the Industrial Revolution. Nearly 200 years later, railways are at a critical juncture in its evolution as means of…