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Decarbonising Argentina’s
Transport System
Charting the Way Forward

Decarbonising Argentina’s
Transport System
Charting the Way Forward

The International Transport ForumThe International Transport Forum is an intergovernmental organisation with 60 member countries. It acts
as a think tank for transport policy and organises the Annual Summit of transport ministers. ITF is the only
global body that covers all transport modes. The ITF is politically autonomous and administratively
integrated with the OECD.
The ITF works for transport policies that improve peoples’ lives. Our mission is to foster a deeper
understanding of the role of transport in economic growth, environmental sustainability and social
inclusion and to raise the public profile of transport policy.
The ITF organises global dialogue for better transport. We act as a platform for discussion and prenegotiation of policy issues across all transport modes. We analyse trends, share knowledge and promoteexchange among transport decision-makers and civil society. The ITF’s Annual Summit is the world’s largest
gathering of transport ministers and the leading global platform for dialogue on transport policy.
The Members of the Forum are: Albania, Armenia, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus,
Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China (People’s Republic of), Croatia,
Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, India,
Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Korea, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta,
Mexico, Republic of Moldova, Montenegro, Morocco, the Netherlands, New Zealand, North Macedonia,
Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, Serbia, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden,
Switzerland, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and theUnited States.

International Transport Forum
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contact@itf-oecd.org
www.itf-oecd.org

Case-Specific Policy Analysis Reports
The ITF’s Case-Specific Policy Analysis series presents topical studies on specific issues carried out by the
ITF in agreement with local institutions. Any findings, interpretations and conclusions expressed herein arethose of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the International Transport Forum or theOECD. Neither the OECD, ITF nor the authors guarantee the accuracy of any data or other information
contained in this publication and accept no responsibility whatsoever for any consequence of their use.
This work is published under the responsibility of the Secretary-General of the ITF. This document, as wellas any data and map included herein, are without prejudice to the status of or sovereignty over any
territory, to the delimitation of international frontiers and boundaries and to the name of any territory,
city or area.
Cite this work as: ITF (2020), “Decarbonising Argentina’s Transport System: Charting the Way Forward”,
International Transport Forum Policy Papers, No. 75, OECD Publishing, Paris.

Acknowledgements
This paper is based on information provided by representatives of various Argentinian public bodies during
a fact-finding mission held in September 2019 in Buenos Aires. The authors would like to thank staff fromthe consulted Argentinian institutions who provided comments and information to support the frameworkof that mission. They would particularly like to thank staff of the Argentinian Ministry of Transport and theMinistry of Environment and Sustainable Development, and their various dependencies including stateowned companies; as well as of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires.
Most notably, authors would like to thank Lucila Capelli, Clara Sanguinetti and Pablo Vazano for theirsupport on coordinating the fact-finding mission that led to the writing of this paper, as well as theircomments and inputs. The paper further benefited from discussions with, and information provided by,
José Barbero and Rodrigo Rodríguez (Universidad Nacional de San Martín); Laura Ziliani (transport
consultant); as well as from Rodolfo Fiadone and Ariel Filadoro (external consultants of the World Bank).
Exchanges with staff from development banks such as the Development Bank of Latin America (CAF) andof the World Bank also contributed to this work.
Findings here are part of the outputs of the Decarbonising Transport in Emerging Economies project(DTEE). DTEE is funded by the International Climate Initiative (IKI) of the German Federal Ministry for theEnvironment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU). As such, authors would like to thank BMU
for funding this project. They would also like to thank Santosh (Sunny) Kodukula (Wuppertal Institute (WI))
for his contributions to, and ideas for, this report. The International Transport Forum (ITF) and the WI
jointly implement this IKI-funded project.
The main author was Joshua Alexander Paternina Blanco (ITF). He worked under the supervision and incoordination with Francisco Furtado (ITF), who wrote part of the report and is the project lead for the
implementation of the DTEE project in Argentina. The authors would like to thank Elisabeth Windisch,overall DTEE project lead, who provided valuable comments and guidance. They would also like to thankEdwina Collins for reviewing and editing the report.

Foreword
DTEE is a joint effort between the International Transport Forum (ITF) and the Wuppertal Institute (WI). It
aims at supporting authorities from Argentina, Azerbaijan, India and Morocco in assessing their policies
for meeting their transport decarbonisation objectives. For this, the project develops a common modellingassessment framework for measuring impacts of various transport decarbonisation measures. The
common framework is adapted to country-specific priorities and characteristics, in dialogue with national
authorities. DTEE is part of the ITF’s Decarbonising Transport initiative (DTi). It is funded by theInternational Climate Initiative (IKI) of the German Federal Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation
and Nuclear Safety (BMU). The project spans from 2019 to 2022.

DECARBONISING ARGENTINA’S TRANSPORT SYSTEM: CHARTING THE WAY FORWARD

Table of contents
Decarbonising Transport in Emerging Economies: The case of Argentina ............................................ 6
Challenges of transport decarbonisation in Argentina .................................................................... 6
Transport decarbonisation in Argentina: Why focus on freight?.......................................................... 8
Reducing emissions of road freight transport in Argentina ............................................................. 9
Increasing rail freight activity for decarbonising Argentina’s transport ........................................ 10
Increasing the resilience of inland waterways and their integration withother modes could further decarbonise freight transport ............................................................ 12
Brief insights on urban logistics for the Buenos Aires area ........................................................... 13
Modelling and data availability for national freight transport in Argentina .................................. 13
Charting the way forward: Supporting policy exchange and further modelling developments .......... 15
References ........................................................................................................................................ 17

FiguresFigure 1. Argentina’s total GHG emissions in 2014 by sector share ................................................... 7
Figure 2. Argentina’s transport-based CO2 emissions in 2014 by mode ............................................. 8

Figure 3. Goods circulated by internal freight transport in Argentina in 2018 by category ................ 8
Figure 4. Modal repartition of internal freight movements in Argentina in 2018 .............................. 9
Figure 5. Share of road freight vehicles per vehicle type in Argentina (2017 values) ....................... 10
Figure 6. Share of total rail freight movements in Argentina andother countries or regions of similar size.......................................................................................... 11
Figure 7. Main waterways in Argentina and neighbouring countries ............................................... 13
Figure 8. Road freight flows (in number of trucks) assigned to the network in 2016 ....................... 14© OECD/ITF 2020

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DECARBONISING ARGENTINA’S TRANSPORT SYSTEM: CHARTING THE WAY FORWARD

Decarbonising Transport in Emerging Economies:
The case of Argentina
Freight transport activities are essential in Argentina. Bulk commodities’ import and export are at the heartof the country’s economy. These flows take place over very long distances and harsh terrain. Road
transport is responsible for most freight transport in the country, and trucks, which have a particularly highcarbon intensity, also have the highest share of emissions of the transport sector. Yet, other alternatives
exist, for instance, for less carbon-intensive modes (e.g. railways and inland waterways) and more efficientroad transport (e.g. scalable trucks, telemetrics or best practices promoted by voluntary programmes).
This paper highlights important findings from kick-off meetings for the Decarbonising Transport inEmerging Economies project (DTEE) in Argentina. It gives a brief overview of freight transport activity inthe country, covering the road, railways, ports and inland waterways, and urban logistics sectors. It also
highlights some of the main challenges and opportunities for decarbonising freight transport. Freighttransport decarbonisation measures need to be aligned with sustainable development goals, regionalcohesion and increased efficiency of the transport system, while adhering to high budgetary constraints.
Solutions that address these various requirements are possible, and will become increasingly important
given the sanitary and economic crisis due to the spread of Covid-19. Multi-modality, particularly between
railways and ports around the country, is one potential way forward, as well as increased efficiency in roadtransport or an increased use of inland waterways. A review of the current tools used by the federal
government for transport modelling and of data availability for different modes in the country ispresented, as is exploring new avenues for modelling. The paper concludes by showing the proposed next
steps for the DTEE project in Argentina.
This paper is a summary of a longer report, shared with Argentinian authorities and other stakeholders.
The longer version can be obtained upon request to the ITF (https://www.itf-oecd.org/dtee-argentina).

Challenges of transport decarbonisation in Argentina
Passenger and freight-transport activities in Argentina are responsible for 15% of the country’s CO2
emissions (Figure 1). More than 90% of these emissions stem from road transport activities. Half of all roadtransport emissions are produced by freight trucks. Private cars come at a close second, at around 42% ofroad transport emissions. High freight emissions are linked to movements of bulk commodities in the
country, mainly by road transport (Ministry of Transport, 2017).
Transport decarbonisation is one of the main sectorial objectives for meeting Argentina’s Nationally
Determined Contributions (NDCs). The country’s transport decarbonisation strategies are set in the
National Plan for Transport and Climate Change (PNAyCC for its Spanish initials). More than 60% oftransport emission savings are planned to stem from mitigating emissions caused by freight transport(Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development, 2017).

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DECARBONISING ARGENTINA’S TRANSPORT SYSTEM: CHARTING THE WAY FORWARD

Figure 1. Argentina’s total GHG emissions in 2014 by sector share (in %)Agriculture, livestock and deforestation

Energy Production

Transport

Industry

Waste

4%
10%

15%

43%

368 MtCO2eq

28%

Source: based on Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development (2017).

The Covid-19 global crisis will create new challenges that need to be considered in decarbonising transport
initiatives in Argentina. The economic crisis and budget constraints, already severe before the pandemic,
will be increasingly challenging. In this context, transport decarbonisation policies will need to allow for
maintaining the competitiveness of Argentinian production and exports, in a context of high uncertainty.
The sheer size and geography of Argentina is a further challenge. Lack of institutional coordination for
freight transport policies between the federal and provincial governments can also be an obstacle for
effective decarbonisation plans.
Finally, increased coordination between relevant sectors is needed to take into account the whole GHG
emissions’ production chain to achieve successful and effective decarbonisation actions. Attention should
be given to emissions linked to the production of alternative fuels in the country, as an example.

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DECARBONISING ARGENTINA’S TRANSPORT SYSTEM: CHARTING THE WAY FORWARD

Transport decarbonisation in Argentina:
Why focus on freight?
Freight is responsible for more than half of transport GHG emissions in Argentina (Figure 2). It is alsoessential for the long-term economic performance of the country, in particular its exports which need tobe moved from the Argentinian hinterland to the world market crossing vast distances.
Figure 2. Argentina’s transport-based CO2 emissions in 2014 by mode (in %)

39%

2%

2%
5%
0%

91%
3%

45%

4%

Railways

Ports & waterways

Other types of transport

Civil aviation

Cars

TrucksBuses

Motorcycles

Source: based on Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development (2017).

In 2018, 536 million tonnes of freight were transported within Argentina, and another 141 million tonnes
were traded with other countries. The type of products transported varies with its origin and finaldestination. Around 70% of exported products were either cereals or feedstock. More than half of total
imports are fuels and sub-products (Ministry of Transport, 2019a). Inside Argentina, around 60% of goods
circulated with freight transport stemmed from either mining or grains (Figure 3).
Figure 3. Goods circulated by internal freight transport in Argentina in 2018 by category (in %)
29%

28%

13%

Mining goods

GrainsIndustrial
goods

6%

6%

5%

Semi-finishedproducts

Fuels

Regional
products

1%
Meat

Source: based on Ministry of Transport (2019a).

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DECARBONISING ARGENTINA’S TRANSPORT SYSTEM: CHARTING THE WAY FORWARD

Also in 2018, Figure 4 shows that most internal freight transport of goods was done by road (i.e. almost
90% of total tonnes-km). Rail and water transport only amounted to 4% and 8% respectively (Ministry ofTransport, 2019b).
Figure 4. Modal repartition of internal freight movements in Argentina in 2018 (in % of total tonnes-km)

Road transport

Railways

Inland Waterways

8%4%

204 635
million88%

Source: based on Ministry of Transport (2019b).

Maritime transport is the most important mode for international trade (imports and exports). In 2018,
more than 90% of imports and two-thirds of exports were transported to and from Argentina by this mode.
The rest of freight was transported by road and, in the case of energy-related imports, by pipeline (Ministryof Transport, 2019b).

Reducing emissions of road freight transport in Argentina
Road freight transport activities are responsible for more than 45% of all transport CO2 emissions inArgentina. Most freight volumes are transported on the Buenos Aires-Rosario axis. Bulk products, such as
those stemming from mining activities, grains and fruits, represent most of the transported volumes in the
country. The goods transport market is dominated by small enterprises holding fewer than five vehicles.
Such an atomised market carries various challenges for decarbonisation. Some of these include increased
difficulty for implementing regulations, as well as promoting vehicle technology improvements, across the
supply chain. More than 80% of vehicles used are medium to heavy vehicles, with a capacity to carry above
four tonnes (Figure 5). Low-vehicle loads are common, as a sign of inefficient transport activities (Fiadone,
Filadoro and Sánchez, 2018). Low loads can entail higher logistic costs for operators, as well as increased
number of trips which could have been avoided with heightened logistic efficiencies.
The average age of vehicles in the fleet is 14 years. Coupled, lorry-type vehicles are the oldest type of
vehicle on average of the fleet, around 19 years of age on average. In comparison, the average age ofheavy duty vehicles in Europe is 8.1 years (EEA, 2014). In certain activities, such as transporting soybean
and grains during harvest season, it is not uncommon to have vehicles over 40 years of age partly due toa lack of effective controls.

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DECARBONISING ARGENTINA’S TRANSPORT SYSTEM: CHARTING THE WAY FORWARD

Almost 90% of all internal freight transport in Argentina is still expected to be done by road transport in
2030 (Ministry of Transport, 2018). A step toward reducing the emissions from such road transport
activities could stem from promoting multi-modality; increasing vehicle and operational efficiencies; andlooking at alternative vehicle technologies. Infrastructure investments might be needed for paving roads
and other infrastructural improvements.
National authorities have put policies in place to increase vehicle efficiencies, namely through a voluntarysmart-transport pilot programme (Fiadone, Filadoro and Sanchez, 2018). Authorities have also promoted
regulatory measures that allow for the use of high capacity vehicles (HCVs): the scalable vehicles(escalables) up to 55.5 tonnes and the even heavier bitrenes (up to 75 tonnes). The scalable vehicles havebeen much more widely adopted since they have a lower cost and are more flexible, with less restrictions
to use across the country’s road network (Ministry of Transport, 2018). Estimated benefits of escalables
include reducing costs by up to USD 1.7 billion between 2019 and 2030; as well as by decreasing up to 14%
of total fuel use in the same period (Ministry of Transport, 2018).
Figure 5. Share of road freight vehicles per vehicle type in Argentina (2017 values)
Coupled lorry

Light vehicles

Semi-trailer

Special motorised vehicle

TractorTrailer

Trucks

17%

34%

15%

0%

19%

15%
0%

Source: based on Fiadone, Filadoro and Sanchez (2018).

Authorities are aiming to increase the use of biofuels in the country. Decree 543/2016 is one example andrequires all diesel and petrol in the country to be blended with at least 10% and 12% of biodiesel andbioethanol respectively (Ministry of Justice and Human Rights, 2016).

Increasing rail freight activity for decarbonising
Argentina’s transport
Railway freight activity in Argentina only emits around 0.3% of all transport emissions in the country(Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development, 2017). At the same time, only 4% of internalfreight volumes are transported by railways. A rate that is considerably lower than the railways share found10© OECD/ITF 2020

DECARBONISING ARGENTINA’S TRANSPORT SYSTEM: CHARTING THE WAY FORWARD

in other countries of similar geographical size (Figure 6). Argentina has one of Latin America’s longest
railway networks, yet, only about 60% of the concessioned network is in operation (CNRT, 2018).
Operations are carried out by three private and one public operator. Private operators transport thehighest share of volumes in the country. Most transported volumes are agricultural-based products, aswell as others stemming from mining operations (CNRT, 2018).
Argentinian authorities have been increasing railway investments so as to promote rail freight activity inrecent years. In 2015, a law was adopted making railway investments a national priority (Ministry of Justiceand Human Rights, 2015). Between 2015 and 2019, public works for more than USD 8.8 billion wereassigned to improve and increase the railway networks in Argentina (Trenes Argentinos Infraestructura,2019). Infrastructure and fleet investments from the three private operators have generally been below
contractual agreement levels (CNRT, 2018). Ongoing public sector-led infrastructure projects, aimed atincreasing service levels, have leveraged on private investments. This has been the case, for instance, withinvestments on local sidings and branches to increase the use of rail, mainly for grain transport. These
projects have particularly been serviced by the public rail operator.
Figure 6. Share of total rail freight movements in Argentina and other countries or regions of similar size(% of total tonnes-km in 2014)

50%

18%

20%

European
Union

Brazil43%

44%

United States

Canada4%

Argentina

Australia

Sources: based on Barbero (2017); NTC Australia (2016); Serrano Colavite and Konishi (2015).

The share of total transported freight volumes held by rail is expected to triple by 2030, thanks to projectedpublic infrastructure investments in the country (Ministry of Transport, 2018). Increasing railways’
transport share could be one of the effective ways of decarbonising freight transport in Argentina. Public
and private investments in the recent years have aimed at facilitating multi-modality between railways andinland waterways in the country. Dry ports across Argentina and new rail terminals for grain transport offer
such examples.

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DECARBONISING ARGENTINA’S TRANSPORT SYSTEM: CHARTING THE WAY FORWARD

Increasing the resilience of inland waterways and their integration
with other modes could further decarbonise freight transport
Argentina has an immense waterway network that stretches 4 600 km and holds 102 public and private
ports (García, 2019). More than 90% of Argentinian exports, and 75% of imports, are done by water-borne
transport. Yet, only 8% of internal freight activities are done by this mode (Ministry of Transport, 2019b).
The main port in the country is the port of Buenos Aires, the country’s main gateway for containers andother commodities into the hinterland. Rosario is the main centre for grain exports. Around 60% of theinland waterways’ flows are within the Trunk Waterway/Hidrovía Paraguay-Paraná (VNT) (Figure 7). Most
external flows are linked to agricultural products, while internal freight is mostly linked to transport ofmining and oil-related products.
Water-borne activities are challenged by the limitations of waterway infrastructure in Argentina, as well
as by its constant maintenance costs. Dredging efforts are essential for deepening the low-draft levels
along the waterways (Merk, 2018). Authorities will need to renew the dredging concession for the trunkwaterway network in the country in 2021. Maintaining and increasing dredging efforts might be required
to better use ship capacity and address high delays in circulation. The need for resilience is particularly
relevant in the context of the eventual impacts of climate change and large scale deforestation. Projecteddredging efforts, as well as other infrastructure investments, should take potential impacts into accountsuch as decrease in waterway depth, increased flow of sediments and extreme weather events.
Increasing the share of inland waterways transport for internal freight could be a tool for decarbonising
freight transport in Argentina. Fostering multi-modality with railways and road transport could potentially
increase the attractiveness of this mode for internal freight movements. Improved co-ordination between
national, provincial and private actors could facilitate the allocation of investments to this end.
Figure 7 shows the Argentinian segment of the Paraguay-Paraná Hidrovía (waterway), as part of the wider
inland waterways network running through Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. The Argentinian
segment of the Paraguay-Paraná Hidrovía is the main inland waterways transport axis in the country.

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DECARBONISING ARGENTINA’S TRANSPORT SYSTEM: CHARTING THE WAY FORWARD

Figure 7. Main waterways in Argentina and neighbouring countries

Source: Ministry of Transport (2019c).

Brief insights on urban logistics for the Buenos Aires area
The decarbonisation of urban logistics will be one priority area of the DTEE project. For the time being, theonly available data in terms of urban logistics’ CO2 emissions and decarbonisation policies concern the
Buenos Aires metropolitan area. Future steps at a later stage of the project will address this data gap so as
to better analyse logistics emissions and actions in other urban areas of Argentina, such as Rosario.
Urban logistics is responsible for around 25% of transport-related CO2 emissions in the Autonomous Cityof Buenos Aires (Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, 2019). City authorities are implementing pilots withlogistics service operators so as to better understand their practices. Pilot programmes aim to acquire
knowledge on an area that has until recently been unexplored by public authorities.

Modelling and data availability for national freighttransport in Argentina
Transport policy in Argentina has been supported by a suite of models developed in recent years (from2012 to 2019) in the country’s Ministry of Transport. Models are focused on national freight transport,
which has a strategic importance for the country. They allow evaluating different alternative investments,
as well as policy questions. Among others, they have helped assess the impacts of several measurescontained in the National Transport and Climate Change Action Plan (PANTyCC in its Spanish initials).

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DECARBONISING ARGENTINA’S TRANSPORT SYSTEM: CHARTING THE WAY FORWARD

In addition, the models mitigate existing gaps on data collection to some extent, e.g. for road freight
movements (Figure 8). The tools developed are quite detailed and sophisticated, reflecting the level ofskills and know-how that exists in Argentina.
Figure 8. Road freight flows (in number of trucks) assigned to the network in 2016

Source: Adapted from National Direction of Freight Transport and Logistics Planning (2019).
Note: English translation of legend; Asignación Total 2016 = Total assignment 2016,
Flujo en Camiones = Flow of trucks.

There are also several areas where the ITF, in the framework of the DTEE project, can assist with further
developments. Complementarities that exist between the work already developed in Argentina and ITF´ssuites of models, means the directions for which ITF support may be most useful concerning thequantitative work and project scope are to:assess impacts on the Argentinian transport decarbonisation pathways brought about byinternational changes to transport networks and policies

assess the impacts of exogenous factors on transportation (e.g. teleworking, 3D printing, traderegionalisation, etc.)adapt ITF´s Urban Logistics model to various Argentinian metropolitan areas.

In addition, the project can directly support local expertise in the pursuit of the above-mentioned
objectives. For instance, modelling efforts in the project can contribute to introducing useful specificparameters and functionalities into existing Argentinian models. The project can also be a platform forpromoting dialogue between different parts of the federal government, local levels of governance andother actors. This can be a way for fostering synergies and disseminating know-how. Some gaps in datacollection might be an aspect to address as well, e.g. concerning road freight movements.

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DECARBONISING ARGENTINA’S TRANSPORT SYSTEM: CHARTING THE WAY FORWARD

Charting the way forward: Supporting policy
exchange and further modelling developments
The Decarbonising Transport in Emerging Economies project (DTEE) will keep on supporting authorities'
efforts to decarbonise transport in Argentina. Activities by the ITF and the Wuppertal Institute will be
carried out while also putting other policy priorities at the forefront of the agenda. Particular attention will
be given to sustainable development, increased access to opportunities and markets, as well as toenhancing the competitiveness of Argentinian products and industry. The need to jointly tackle all of theseobjectives gains added prominence due to the economic and social challenges brought about by the
Covid-19 global crisis.
Policy actions for decarbonising Argentina’s transport system will go hand in hand with a strategy ofincreasing multimodality in Argentina's internal freight activities. Increasing the role of inland waterways
transport, as well as of railways, will also be essential for reducing internal freight transport greenhousegas emissions (GHG). Combining the flexibility of road transport with the high capacity and efficiency ofother modes will be essential for increasing the overall competitiveness of the system. Road transport willcontinue having an essential role in the decarbonisation of freight transport in Argentina. Even withmodal-shift policies, it is estimated to remain the dominant mode. Hence, policies directed at increasing
the efficiency of, and decreasing emissions from, road freight will also be relevant.
Various challenges exist for promoting freight transport activities that emit lower GHG emissions, while
also addressing the access and competiveness needs in Argentina:
Obtaining the funding and developing the financing schemes required for the infrastructure andfleet improvement investments in the country, in a context of budget constraints and economic
uncertainty.



Developing the institutional frameworks that allow coordinating efforts between various actors
across different sectors and institutional levels. This applies, for instance, to coordination
between public authorities and small-sized truck companies with the objective to include themin the smart transport programme.

Argentina’s large size is a main challenge for transport activity in the country. Argentina’s
2 780 400 sqkm make it the world’s eighth-largest country. Transporting freight over long
distances in a sustainable manner is of particular concern for Argentinian agricultural exports.
The long distances between Argentina and its core export countries mean that if Argentinian
exports are to remain competitive, freight transport needs to be as low-cost and efficient as
possible.

Beyond challenges, key strengths and opportunities are worth mentioning. A clear strength is the available
tools and know-how of the federal government. The country’s administration has managed to develop
sophisticated transport models to assess the development of transport operations in the country, as well
as some of their economic and environmental impacts. High human capital goes hand in hand withsophisticated data collection and reporting efforts developed under the two previous administrations,which allows exploring longer-term trends and monitoring new ones.

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DECARBONISING ARGENTINA’S TRANSPORT SYSTEM: CHARTING THE WAY FORWARD

The DTEE project will continue with short and medium term actions in Argentina between 2020 and 2022.
Actions will aim at supporting policy exchange and technical work by Argentinian authorities at thenational, provincial and local levels.
The following provides a rough timeline of the further actions of the DTEE project in Argentina:
July 2020: Series of webinars on transport decarbonisation in times of unprecedented global crisis. The
webinar series will aim at presenting and discussing present and potential decarbonisation actions andmeasures. This takes place against the backdrop of the combined health and economic crisis caused by the
spread of Covid-19. Thus, ensuring health requirements, re-starting the economy and doing this while
decarbonising the transport system will be the main theme for these seminars. They will also seek tofacilitate exchanges between different stakeholders, as well as to promote institutional alignment for the
implementation of decarbonising measures, increase regional-level dialogue and contact between theprivate and public sectors. A policy brief highlighting the main guidelines resulting from discussions will be
issued. Beyond policy discussions, a session during the seminars will formulate specifications for thecountry-tailored modelling assessment framework.
By June 2021: Assessment framework and modelling development in Argentina. Quantitative analysis isunder development to test the impact of decarbonisation measures and scenarios in Argentina. Modelling
activities will include supporting the improvement of existing tools developed by public authorities inArgentina, as well as adapting relevant and existing ITF models to Argentina.
By December 2021: Supporting wider policy exchange between selected emerging economies. Another key
event in the project will be the organisation of a session in the ITF´s annual summit. There, representativesof all the project focus countries (Argentina, but also Azerbaijan, India and Morocco) will have theopportunity to present their challenges and opportunities regarding transport decarbonisation, as well as
to exchange experiences. Representatives from development banks will provide an overview of theirsupport for transport GHG reduction measures in emerging economies. Dates for this special session will
be pending developments on the next ITF Summit. The 2020 Summit has been postponed due to the
Covid-19 outbreak.
By December 2022: Fostering policy exchange between Argentina and its Latin American peers. Additional
policy workshops will be developed with other Latin American countries to foster policy exchange acrossthe region and support the creation of transport decarbonisation pathways for more countries in theregion. These events will take place until the end of the project, and will potentially be held in wider forums(e.g. UNFCCC meetings).
By December 2022: Training workshops for local authorities. The workshops, both online and in-person, will
aim at building capacity of Argentinian authorities to use the quantitative tools developed during the
project. Workshops will also include matters such as how authorities could adapt the tools to their specificcontexts, for instance at a city or regional level.
For more information on future activities on DTEE – Argentina: https://www.itf-oecd.org/dtee-argentina.

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Autonomous City of Buenos Aires (2019), Plan de movilidad limpia, Presentation in the framework of the
kick-off meetings of the Decarbonising Transport in Emerging Economies project, 16-20 September 2019.
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CNRT (2018), Red Ferroviaria de cargas: informe estadístico Año 2018, Comisión Nacional de Regulación
del Transporte https://www.argentina.gob.ar/sites/default/files/cargas_2018_1.pdf, (accessed 21
February 2020).
Cushman and Wakefield (2014), “Reporte de inmuebles logísticos e industriales, Región Metropolitana
de Buenos Aires 2014”, http://www.cedol.org.ar/_content/downloads/presentaciones/reporte-delmercado-de-inmuebles-logisticos-e-industriales-2014.pdf , (accessed 08 October 2019).
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DECARBONISING ARGENTINA’S TRANSPORT SYSTEM: CHARTING THE WAY FORWARD

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Decarbonising Argentina’s
Transport System
This paper reviews opportunities for mitigating greenhouse gas
emissions from Argentina’s transport sector. It also identifies themain challenges for that objective, specifically in freight transport.
Actions taken at different levels of government are assessed andthe impact of policies focused on other priorities - such as lowering
logistic costs - is discussed. The paper also highlights what dataon transport emissions are available for Argentina and which tools
government agencies use for examining them.

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Supported by:based on a decision of the German Bundestag

Published: 05/2020 | Photo credit: GrAl | ShutterstockThis is the initial scoping paper for Argentina within the ITF“Decarbonising Transport in Emerging Economies” project, funded byGermany’s Federal Ministry for the Environment.