ICCT recommends zero-emission vehicles and low-emission zones for cleaner urban transport

Indian metro cities have faced severe air quality issues for decades, with Delhi and NCR marking their top positions. Places such as Delhi, Gurugram, and others have crossed ‘very poor’ AQI levels, depicting a serious threat to everyone’s health. Road transport accounts for nearly 30% of urban pollution, which is an alarming stage for the government and industry players to now choose an eco-friendly mode of transportation.

With advanced technologies, policy interventions, and regulatory bodies monitoring vehicular emissions, this emission can be abated. While studying real-time transport emissions, a study conducted by The Real Urban Emissions (TRUE) using their remote sensing technology revealed that commercial vehicle segments are higher pollution emitters than private vehicles.

CNG commercial vehicles can be a good alternative or transitional step towards a greener transport system, however, this might not be a good solution for the ZEVs (zero emission vehicle) target. "Real-world NOx emissions from CNG commercial vehicles are also high, highlighting that CNG vehicles as a viable alternative or a transitional step toward ZEVs may not be the right approach, especially not in regions suffering from poor air quality like Delhi NCR,” stated Anirudh Narla, Researcher, ICCT during the webinar organised by International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT), in partnership with ET Auto.

A step towards cleaner transport

Narla highlighted that BS VI vehicles are relatively cleaner compared to both BS IV and pre-BS IV vehicle types. However, as per reports real-world emissions from BS VI vehicles are also higher than lab limits in a few scenarios.

To provide a permanent solution for the unhealthy transport emissions, ICCT suggested a phased ZEV supply mandate for commercial segments which complements the existing PUC regime with real-world monitoring technologies like remote sensing and implementing new phases of BS VI in the short-term and BS VII by 2028 which will bring in stricter real-world emissions testing and monitoring.

Low-emission zones (LEZ); a wiser choice for curbing bad air quality

A cumulative reduction of 24% of all-pollutant emissions could be recorded with the enforcement of a vehicle age-based restriction with all non-LEZ complying vehicles fully shifting to zero-emission vehicles for a certain period.

Implementation of low-emission zones was expected to achieve up to 79% improvement in particulate matter by 2030 compared to 2023, states Moorthy Nair, Associate Researcher, ICCT India. He highlighted the shared findings from Pimpri-Chinchwad on the impact of low-emission zones (LEZ) on air pollution in collaboration with the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP)-India.

The study analysed vehicle emissions, identified potential low-emission zone areas, outlined planning and enforcement timelines, proposed vehicle restrictions, and recommended support mechanisms for transitioning to cleaner options.

Though CNG vehicles are a better alternative, electrification of transport has received significant traction across the globe due to the industrial productivity, health benefits, and climate benefits along with the cost efficiency.