In New Delhi,
do as Beijing does
Adopt more stringent fuel quality and
emission standards — and push for the national automobile pollution and fuel
authority
Approximately 20 years ago, in 1995, a process was started that held
great promise for ameliorating the serious air pollution problem in Delhi.
Under a provision of the Indian Constitution, environmental lawyer M.C. Mehta
filed a public interest litigation with the Supreme Court, seeking relief from
the serious health risks caused by motor vehicle pollution. The court responded
with a series of orders between 1996 and 2001 that reduced the sulphur content
of diesel and petrol, eliminated leaded petrol, required premixed lubricating
oil and petrol to replace the loose supply of these fuels for two-stroke
engines and ordered the retirement of commercial vehicles older than 15 years.
notably, the court ordered the
conversion of all commercial passenger vehicles — buses, taxis and
three-wheelers — to compressed natural gas (CNG). As a direct result of these
measures, as the 21st century began, the air quality in Delhi actually began to
improve.
And more
progress was still to come. Under the leadership of the Supreme Court, the
ministry of petroleum and natural gas appointed the R.A. Mashelkar Committee,
which put in place a roadmap to steadily improve the quality of both petrol and
diesel fuel and to require all new cars and trucks and buses to install
pollution control equipment that would gradually lower the emissions. By 2010,
all new vehicles sold in Delhi and 12 other cities were meeting the same
pollution levels as similar vehicles were meeting in Europe in 2005. Petrol and
diesel fuel in these cities had sulphur levels capped at 50 parts per million.
However, after
the committee issued its report in 2003, other than the new vehicle and clean
fuels standards, most of its other recommendations were ignored. For example,
the 2003 Mashelkar Auto Fuel Policy Committee had recommended the establishment
of a national automobile pollution and fuel authority responsible for all
vehicle emissions and related fuel-quality issues. This authority was expected
to be proactive in establishing future standards and regulations. But this
recommendation is yet to be adopted.
At the same
time, the marketplace for cars and light trucks was distorted by fuel pricing
such that a switch from petrol to diesel was strongly encouraged. One could
hardly imagine a more disastrous policy for public health, as diesel cars emit
much higher levels of very small hazardous particles and at least three times
as much NOx, some of which are directly hazardous and some that undergo
transformations in the atmosphere to further exacerbate the problem of small
particles, cause the formation of another hazardous pollutant, ozone, or
photochemical smog. Diesel cars sold in the US and Japan are equipped with much
more advanced pollution controls, such as particle filters, and are as clean as
their petrol-fueled counterparts. But India stopped vehicle emissions and
fuel-quality standards at the Euro IV equivalent.
India has shown
leadership in the past in tackling its air pollution problems and must rise to
the occasion again. It can look to the experience of cities like Los Angeles
and Tokyo to see that even with high growth in vehicle population, pollution
levels can come down.
But perhaps it
would be better to look at its neighbour closer to home, Beijing, which has
also been plagued by serious air pollution in recent years. Beijing has put in
place an aggressive action plan with 22 specific measures directed at lowering
motor vehicle emissions.
Officials have
set up a lottery system to restrict the monthly sales of new vehicles in the
city, adopted a schedule to require new vehicles to be as clean as anyplace in
the world by 2016 or 2017, mandated annual checks of all vehicles on the road,
restricted the types of vehicles allowed to be used in the heart of the city
during the workday to only the cleanest and matched the lowest sulphur fuels as
anywhere in the world. In addition, bus and rail transit systems will be
expanded substantially, and will require one million older vehicles to be
scrapped by 2017.
Urban access
regulations are among the most widespread and successful approaches that cities
can take to address their air pollution problems. They can take several
different forms, such as congestion charges or low emission zones (LEZ), where
only cleaner vehicles can enter, or by limiting the times different types of
vehicles can enter. Over 250 cities in Europe have such schemes in place. To
cite just one example of the impact, Berlin has seen a 58 per cent reduction in
diesel particles classified as human carcinogens by the WHO. Further, the
Berlin LEZ has also reduced NOx emissions by 20 per cent.
Another key
element of the Beijing programme has been the prohibition of sales of diesel
cars without particle filters. Steps in this direction have also recently
spread to Europe, where the mayor of Paris has called for a ban on diesel cars
from the city by 2020.
What can Delhi do? Quite a bit. First, it can look to the “Auto Fuel Vision and
Policy, 2025” report by the Saumitra Chaudhuri Committee, submitted to the
government over 10 months ago. This committee was charged with establishing a
roadmap for fuel quality and vehicle emission standards through 2025 and
concluded, among other things, that the country could switch to ultra-low
sulphur fuels with a maximum of 10 PPM sulphur by 2020. With this fuel quality,
each new diesel car, truck and bus in the country should be required to meet
state-of- the-art emissions standards and be equipped with a wall-flow
particulate filter. Just as Beijing is doing, Delhi should also enhance the
Euro requirements by adding onboard refuelling vapour recovery and eliminating
evaporative emissions. The annual inspection of in-use vehicles must be
upgraded, beginning with buses and trucks and gradually expanding it to include
all vehicles. It should also push for the creation of the national automobile
pollution and fuel authority responsible for all vehicle emissions and related
fuel quality issues.
Beyond that,
following the lead of Beijing and many other cities, it can establish urban
access regulations to restrict the use of the dirtiest vehicles in major parts
of the city. Special restrictions on the sale and use of diesel cars can also
be an important element of Delhi’s overall strategy.
If Delhi moves
forward in close coordination with the national government, the problem can
once again be turned around and the residents of Delhi can once again see
gradual progress towards clean and healthy air quality.
The writer, a
mechanical engineer, has spent his career working on motor vehicle pollution
control issues at the local, national and international levels. He is the
founding chairman of the board of directors of the International Council on
Clean Transportation
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