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.

In the Solomon Islands, the concept of the ‘road network' differs strictly from the continental focus on high-speed motorways. Here, infrastructure is almost entirely defined by the ‘last mile.' The nation's 3,700-kilometer network consists exclusively of local and rural roads, with zero percent classified as motorways or primary highways. Official estimates classify 42% of the infrastructure as main roads, 35% as feeder roads, and 23% as access roads. Condition assessments confirm the decline. Of the 1,523 km core network, only 67% remains in maintainable condition . Some estimates indicate that, overall, only about 15 percent of the road network is deemed to be in fair to good condition. The remainder requires substantial rehabilitation. Causes are several, ranging from structural and historical factors to chronic funding deficits, ethnic tensions, and natural disasters, which have accelerated deterioration. Only 184 km of the main road network (12 percent of the overall network) is paved, with three-quarters of the sealed roads situated in Guadalcanal Province and Honiara City.

This unique topology shapes every aspect of the country's transport policy, from emissions profiles to climate vulnerability. The urgency of this transformation is driven by a motorization trajectory that has quietly outpaced regional peers. With 387 vehicles per thousand people, the Solomon Islands now exhibits a higher motorization rate than the Asia-Pacific average of 317. While this mobility supports local livelihoods, it has decoupled the transport sector from broader decarbonization trends. Since 2000, road transport greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have climbed by 3.2% annually—nearly double the growth rate of economy-wide emissions. Today, road transport accounts for 86% of the nation's total transport emissions, signaling that any national climate strategy must prioritize the vehicular fleet.

Despite the growing fleet, the energy transition has yet to materialize. Between 2015 and 2024, electric vehicles (EVs) represented effectively 0% of total road vehicle imports. However, the foundational conditions for a shift are present. The UNEP E-mobility Readiness Index scores the country at 61 out of 100, suggesting that while policy and financial frameworks lag, the market potential exists. Accelerating this transition is not just an environmental obligation but a public health necessity. The economic cost of health damages from PM 2.5 exposure is estimated at roughly 13% of GDP, a staggering burden for a developing economy.

Yet, for an archipelago located in the Pacific Ring of Fire, mitigation is often overshadowed by the immediate demands of adaptation. The infrastructure stock—comprising some 26.7 million tonnes of material—is under constant siege. Since 2000, the islands have weathered 20 recorded natural disasters, half of which were storms. The financial implications are acute: the country faces average annual losses of roughly $327,600 to transport infrastructure, with road networks absorbing 83% of this damage. The National Road Vulnerability Index currently ranks the Solomon Islands 88th globally, highlighting the fragility of key segments where a single failure can sever essential supply chains.

Building ‘Green Roads' also requires navigating a delicate ecological trade-off. With 90% of the land area forested, infrastructure expansion inevitably intersects with critical habitats. Research indicates that road infrastructure already encroaches upon 15 of the nation's 36 key biodiversity areas. The density of roads within these sensitive zones stands at 17 meters per square kilometer. Future development requires rigorous spatial planning to ensure that the drive for connectivity does not cannibalize the natural capital that sustains local communities.

Ultimately, the metric of success for the Solomon Islands is social inclusion. The current deficit is significant: 240,000 rural residents live beyond the reach of all-season roads, effectively isolating a significant portion of the population from healthcare, education, and markets. This isolation is compounded by a lack of public transit options; in urban agglomerations, only two out of ten residents have access to public transport. Furthermore, the sector itself remains heavily gender-imbalanced, with women comprising only 7.3% of the transport workforce.

Transport investment in the Solomon Islands faces challenges due to its size and spread: a small population scattered across about 90 inhabited islands leads to high unit costs, making every kilometer of infrastructure disproportionately expensive to build and maintain. A transition to Green Roads in the Solomon Islands demands a dual-track approach: hardening existing assets against the certainty of climate shocks while decarbonizing the vehicle fleet that relies on them. It requires shifting the focus from simple road density to network resilience and inclusive access. Investments must pivot toward adaptation to reduce the annual material loss of 503,000 tonnes currently spent on maintenance and expansion. Simultaneously, fiscal policy must address the external costs of fossil fuels—currently manifesting as congestion, road damage, and health burdens—to incentivize the uptake of electric mobility. Only through such an integrated strategy can the road network evolve from a source of emissions and vulnerability into a resilient backbone for sustainable island development. The nation has established planning frameworks; execution, including financing, remains a challenge.

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