Dominican Republic Country Climate Development Report - Transport Deep Dive - November 2023

Jul 19, 2026

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Dominican Republic’s rapid economic growth is constrained by infrastructure underinvestment, social inequality, and high climate vulnerability that disrupts transport competitiveness and resilience. The report details climate-related hazards, risk index performance, and transport’s role in rising greenhouse-gas emissions driven by fossil-fuel dependency and passenger cars. It highlights road-dominated connectivity, limited public transport, rising motorization, congestion in Greater Santo Domingo, and challenges from rapid, unplanned urbanization, congestion, informality, and vehicle aging.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages17

Reading Time43 min

I. INTRODUCTION

A. Country Context

B. Sector Context

Public Disc losure Authorized Dominican Republic Country Climate Development Report Transport Deep Dive November, 2023 Pub lic Disc losure Authorized I. INTRODUCTION A. Country Context The Dominican Republic is among the fastest-growing economies in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), boasting a sustained GDP growth rate of 4.3% annually between 2000 and 2020, surpassing the regional average1. Despite this progress, the country still faces significant obstacles, such as inadequate investment in infrastructure and widespread social inequality. Public investment in infrastructure in the Dominican Republic has lagged behind most other countries in the region and falls short of the performance of top performers such as Panama, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua. Over the past decade, public investment in infrastructure has averaged around 1.6% of GDP, but has seen a decrease in recent years, with the lowest value recorded in 2019 at just 0.65% of GDP, representing a 40% decrease from the previous year2. Natural disasters significantly disrupt infrastructure negatively impacting the competitiveness of Dominican Republic’s economy 3. The country is highly vulnerable to the effects of climate-related events, such as tropical storms, hurricanes, droughts, floods, landslides, and earthquakes, as well as long-term impacts like sea-level rise and desertification. In the 2022 edition of the INFORM Risk Index, which measures global risk for humanitarian crises and disasters, the Dominican Republic received a score of 4.3 out of 10, considered to be of "medium risk. " This places it at rank 73 out of 191, ahead of many regional countries, but behind its peers in terms of infrastructure and aspirations. The country ranks third in total deaths (5,465) and 6th in total economic damage (US$ 6,426 million) .4 These risks are exacerbated by factors such as rapid urbanization, inadequate territorial and urban planning, and poor natural resource management. On the other hand, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have risen alarmingly, reaching a staggering 35.4 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent in 2015, which represents a 19% increase from 2010. The transportation sector is one of the largest contributor to the country's GHG emissions, accounting for 21% or 7.757 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent, with a heavy reliance on fossil fuels. Passenger cars are the main contributor to GHG emissions in the transport sector, accounting for 48% . Light commercial vehicles contribute 34%, followed by buses at 7%, trucks at 5%, and motorcycles at 5% . The majority of emissions come from passenger transport, particularly private cars and motorcycles, making up 54% of the total. B. Sector Context Dominican Republic’s strong reliance on roads and fossil fuel-powered vehicles poses a risk to the country’s logistics matrix and emissions targets. Road infrastructure is the primary means of connectivity in the productive regions of the country, as cargo transportation is primarily carried out by road. Portsand airports focus on handling foreign trade cargo. There are railway links constructed during the second half of the 19th century, but they are abandoned. Regarding passenger transportation, most domestic 1 Source: World Bank-WDI 2 Source: Dominican Republic Infrastructure Sector Assessment Program (InfraSAP), 2022. 3 Source: Transporte Resiliente al Cambio Climático: ¿Cómo priorizar la inversión? Caso de República Dominicana. IADB, 2022. 4 Source: EM-DAT. Guha-Sapir & Below, 2017. movement occurs on roads since the distances between major urban settlements are relatively short. The country's two busiest airports handle a negligible number of domestic passengers, with the majority offlights originating from or destined for abroad, primarily for tourism. Compared to the region, the Dominican Republic has better road density indicators (0 .29 km/km2 vs. 0.18 in Latin America and the Caribbean) and pavement rates (54 .7% vs. 27% in Latin Ame

FAQs

为什么多米尼加共和国的运输与基础设施面临气候相关风险？

运输基础设施与竞争力受到热带风暴、飓风、干旱、洪水、滑坡和地震等灾害的负面冲击。长期影响如海平面上升和荒漠化也会进一步加剧脆弱性。

交通部门如何影响多米尼加共和国的温室气体排放？

交通部门是温室气体主要贡献者之一，占排放约21%。由于对化石燃料的依赖，乘用车与摩托车等私家出行占比高，推动排放持续增长。

多米尼加共和国的交通体系在基础设施与排放效率方面有哪些主要特点？

货运主要依赖道路，港口和机场更多服务对外贸易。虽然道路密度和路面覆盖相对较好，但缺乏公共交通与更高排放效率的替代出行方式。

Jul 19, 2026

Upload by Hazel