an assessment of the underlying relationship between land transportation and climate change: case study mauritius

Introduction: land transportation encompasses the movement of people and goods and is therefore a major contributor of global greenhouses gases. the main share of such emissions is mostly from the release of carbon dioxide into the air as a result of burning transportation fuels obtained from petroleum, a major driver of climate change. while today the defining issue is a changing climate, the number of vehicles on roads keep on rising around the world. materials and methods: this study assessed the relationship between land transportation and climate change using a system dynamics model based on a 3-layered taxonomy using mauritius island as case study. over 100 papers were analyzed and the variables that link land transportation and climate change in the mauritian context were selected and a taxonomy divided into sub-units was built. results: this innovative taxonomy was divided into 3 sections related to the land transportation sector including a vehicle layer, transport system layer and society layer. using these variables, three stock and flow diagrams were constructed on vensim, namely climate change impacts, transport related carbon dioxide and socio-economic models. conclusion: while there is a complex relationship between land transportation and climate change globally, mauritius must find ways to become more climate friendly in the land transportation sector.