Grow First, Clean up Later? Studying the Growing Traffic Emissions in Latin America and Exploring Future Possibilities

Following the rapid development and economic growth that hits most of Latin American countries, a fast transformation in transportation systems is occurring. The resulting negative effects of these processes are analyzed in a broader scenario in the course of the paper that focuses on transportation emissions, specifically CO2. Later, a quantitative exercise is made using Santiago de Chile for a closer analysis of possible future scenarios, which were elaborated based on aggregated models to forecast emissions. The results suggest that current efforts are not sufficient to reach meaningful reductions in emissions. Finally, propositions to improve future results are made.