The ATO green roads profiles present country-level perspectives on how 35 Asia-Pacific economies are addressing the development and management of sustainable eco-friendly roads. Drawing from diverse datasets and policy documents, the profiles highlight practices and measures that contribute to greener transport infrastructure.

Developed by the Asian Transport Observatory (ATO) in partnership with the International Road Federation (IRF), the profiles are designed to complement the Green Roads Toolkit. The toolkit provides a practical reference for integrating good practices across nine dimensions:

• Decarbonization
• Climate resilience
• Water and land management
• Pollution reduction
• Conserving biodiversity
• Responsible sourcing of materials
• Improving quality of life
• Disaster preparedness
• Fostering inclusive growth

This 2025 edition builds on earlier work to provide a comprehensive resource for guiding the planning, development, construction, and management of greener, more sustainable roads.

Kiribati is a nation defined by the sea, yet its internal struggles are rooted on land. Its geography is fragmented across 810 square kilometers, but surprisingly, it has a dense road network. With 719 kilometers of roads, the infrastructure density is 887 meters per square kilometer, nearly double the Asia-Pacific average of about 450 meters. Despite this, high density doesn't mean high utility. Most of the network—92%—comprises local and rural roads, with no motorways or highways.

Trucks make up 42% of the traffic; two-wheelers another 43%. Motorization remains low, standing at 111 vehicles per thousand people in 2024, a fraction of the Asia-Pacific average of 317. Yet, the emissions do not reflect this austerity. Road transport GHG emissions reached 33 thousand tonnes of CO2e in 2024. They are growing at 5.8% annually, outpacing the broader economy's 3.4% growth.

Here lies the inefficiency. Kiribati's road transport emissions intensity is 67 grams of CO2e per USD of GDP. The Asia-Pacific average is 26. Even among Pacific Island peers, who average 49, Kiribati is an outlier. The economy is burning more fuel to generate less value than almost anywhere else in the region. Since 2015, while the rest of the Pacific improved intensity by 4.3% per year, Kiribati managed only 2.9%.

The cost of this inefficiency is not just atmospheric. It is financial and physical. Fossil fuel subsidies mask the true price of transport, transferring the burden to society through external costs: congestion accounts for 49% of these externalities, road damages 43%. The electric vehicle transition has not started. The UNEP E-mobility Readiness Index scores the nation at 37 out of 100, with a policy score of zero.

The transport sector emitted 15 tonnes of PM 2.5 in 2022. Roads contributed a fifth of this. It sounds negligible until the health bill arrives. The World Bank estimates the annual cost of health damages from PM 2.5 exposure at 9% of GDP.

Biodiversity is losing ground. In a nation where land is scarce, roads are encroaching on the few wild spaces left. Five of the country's fifteen Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs) have been bisected by infrastructure. This amounts to 191 meters of road per thousand square kilometers of KBA. The Asia-Pacific average is 88. Kiribati is paving over its ecological safety net at twice the regional rate.

Safety remains stagnant. Eight deaths were recorded in 2021. But the most damning metric is vulnerability. The National Road Vulnerability Index ranks countries on the likelihood of network failure during natural hazards. Kiribati ranks 208th. Last. Out of 208 countries. The network has no redundancy. One storm, one flood, and the system snaps. This is not theoretical. Fifty-four thousand rural residents—nearly half the population—live more than 2 kilometers from an all-season road. They are isolated from healthcare, markets, and disaster recovery. When the roads fail, these people are not just inconvenienced. They are cut off.

Kiribati presents a paradox. The road network is extensive relative to the land area but functionally brittle. It is inefficient, producing carbon intensities far exceeding regional benchmarks, and physically fragile, ranking lowest globally in network vulnerability. The complete absence of an electric vehicle market and the zero-score policy framework for e-mobility suggest a sector locked in a fossil-fuel past. Immediate policy intervention is required to decouple connectivity from carbon and to secure rural access against the inevitable shock of climate disruption.

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