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.

Spanning nearly 274,000 kilometers, Pakistan's road network functions as the country's circulatory system, yet it remains critically exposed to both the changing climate and the inefficiencies of legacy infrastructure planning. While the network supports a population of over 251 million, its composition is lopsided: 82% consists of local and rural roads, while high-capacity motorways and highways comprise just 7%. This infrastructure density—355 meters per square kilometer—struggles to keep pace with demographic pressures, evidenced by road availability dropping from 1.6 kilometers per thousand people in 2000 to 1.1 in 2024.

The composition of traffic flowing through these arteries offers a distinct decarbonization challenge compared to the Asia-Pacific average. Pakistan's fleet is overwhelmingly dominated by two-wheelers, which account for 60% of road users, while passenger cars and light duty vehicles (LDVs) make up only 13%. Consequently, motorization rates remain low at 156 vehicles per thousand people—roughly half the Asia-Pacific average of 317. Despite this, the sector is carbon-heavy. Road transport accounted for 46.9 million tonnes of CO₂ equivalent in 2024, representing 96% of total transport emissions. While the emissions intensity per unit of GDP has improved to 30 gCO₂e/USD, outperforming the regional average, the absolute growth of 2.6% per year since 2000 signals a need for urgent decoupling of mobility from carbon output.

The cost of this fossil-fuel dependence is not merely atmospheric but fiscally draining. Between 2016 and 2023, fossil fuel subsidies in the transport sector expanded to $7.8 billion USD. These subsidies effectively underwrite negative externalities: 72% of the societal cost manifests as road crashes, with congestion and road damage accounting for the remainder. The human toll is severe, with the World Health Organization estimating over 27,500 road crash fatalities in 2021 alone. Current reduction rates of 2% annually fall woefully short of the 7.4% required to halve fatalities by 2030. Furthermore, tailpipe emissions contribute heavily to the air quality crisis, causing at least 9,300 premature deaths annually and incurring health damages valued by the World Bank at nearly 9% of GDP.

Transitioning to ‘Green Roads' in Pakistan requires addressing the physical vulnerability of the infrastructure itself. The network faces potential average annual losses of nearly $219 million USD due to climate hazards, primarily flooding. Under a 4.5°C warming scenario, over 4% of road and rail assets would be exposed to extreme precipitation events. Bridges and tunnels are disproportionately at risk, shouldering nearly 5% of loss expectations despite constituting only 0.3% of the infrastructure stock. Resilience is therefore not a luxury but an economic imperative; current maintenance and expansion consume 36 million tonnes of material annually, embodying significant carbon emissions that further complicate the net-zero equation.

True sustainability also demands inclusivity. The current model leaves 43 million rural residents—an economically vital demographic—beyond the reach of all-season roads, severing their access to healthcare, education, and markets. Urban accessibility is similarly fractured; in 69% of cities, only two out of ten residents have access to public transport within a reasonable walking distance. This isolation is compounded by a stark gender gap, with women comprising a negligible 0.6% of the transport workforce.

Electrification offers a tangible pathway forward, provided it is coupled with grid decarbonization. Pakistan's grid emission factor of 398 gCO₂ per kWh is already cleaner than the Central and West Asia average, and EV imports have captured 7% of the market as of 2024. However, the heavy lifting remains in policy alignment. UNEP's E-mobility Readiness Index scores Pakistan at 76/100, showing promise in technology but lagging in policy frameworks.

To safeguard Pakistan's developmental future, the definition of road infrastructure must evolve. Success can no longer be measured solely by kilometers of road, but by the resilience of those assets to extreme weather, the reduction of the $94.3 billion annual air pollution bill, and the integration of the 43 million rural citizens currently cut off from the economy.

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