Welcoming the Centre's move to leapfrog to Euro VI standards in 2020, a Delhi-based green body today termed it as a "game-changer" decision which will help India to advance towards cleaner emissions and also reduce particulate emissions from diesel cars by 68 per cent.
Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) said that with this move, India will take the first step towards fuel-neutral standards that will lower the gap between emissions standards for diesel and petrol vehicles.
As India leaps from Bharat Stage IV to Euro VI, CSE said that particulate emissions from diesel cars will be reduced by 68 per cent while NOx emissions can come down by 82 per cent.
It also said that reduction from heavy duty vehicles will be 87 per cent and 67 per cent, respectively, for particulates and NOx.
"This is a game-changer decision and will help India leapfrog to much cleaner emissions. This is needed at a time when India is motorising very rapidly.
"The number of vehicles that India will add in the next decade is over twice the current vehicle stock in the country. Stringent emissions standards are needed to reduce the pollution impact of this immense motorisation," said CSE Director General Sunita Narain.
In a major step to curb vehicular pollution, India will leapfrog directly from Euro IV emission norms for petrol and diesel to Euro VI standards and the oil PSUs will invest Rs 28,750 crore for the transition.
A decision was taken at an inter-ministerial meeting yesterday to advance the date by four years to April 1, 2020 for implementation of Bharat Stage VI (equivalent to Euro VI norms followed globally) for supply of cleaner auto fuel, by altogether skipping the Euro V grade norms.
CSE said that the current emissions standards of Bharat Stage IV in a few cities and Bharat Stage III in the rest of the country are 10 to 15 years behind the norms followed by Europe.
"These outdated emissions standards allow diesel vehicles to emit several times more nitrogen oxides and particulate matter compared to petrol vehicles. The government's latest move will reduce the time lag with Europe to just six years in 2020.
"It is unfortunate that India has already lost a lot of time in announcing the next level of emissions standards roadmap," said Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director research, CSE.
The green body said that the decision to leapfrog to Euro
VI has been possible because Indian refineries have agreed to supply Euro VI-compliant fuel by 2020.
This paves the way for introducing advanced emissions control systems in vehicles that are needed to clean up the exhaust more efficiently while only 10 ppm sulphur fuels will allow use of these advanced systems, it said.
"It will be highly detrimental if the auto industry tries to block this move. They have four years to make the necessary changes. If the globalised auto industry is already producing the same clean and safe technology in other markets, there is no reason why the same cannot be done for the Indian market," said Narain.
CSE researchers said that the immediate next step should be to ensure that the current Bharat Stage IV emissions standards in force in Delhi and a few other cities is made uniform nation-wide by March 2016 as this is urgently needed to cut emissions from Bharat Stage III trucks by 80 per cent.
While doing this, it is also important to restrain diesel cars as diesel exhaust is extremely toxic.
"As India now gears up to bring in a new genre of emissions control technology, it should also have in-use compliance regulations in place to ensure that these systems work optimally throughout the useful life of vehicles on our roads, and manufacturers are held accountable - as it is the global good practice," it said.
