Millions of old and used cars exported from the European Union, Japan, and the United States to developing countries is fuelling air pollution, a UN report warns. Poor quality of used vehicles exported from the US, Europe and Japan are hindering efforts to mitigate climate breakdown, says UN. The report found that two-thirds of the 146 countries studied had “weak” or “very weak” policies to regulate the import of used vehicles. Currently, there are no regional or global agreements on trade in used vehicles. A total of 100 countries had no vehicle emissions standards.
Around three million used vehicles are exported each year between 2015 and 2018 from these places with most going to low- and middle-income countries and more than half ending up in Africa, according to a report released by the UN Environment Programme. With the expansion of car ownership in developing countries expected to be a major source of emissions in the coming decades, the UNEP called for tightening the rules for exporting and importing old, polluting vehicles. “Developed countries must stop exporting vehicles that fail environment and safety inspections and are no longer considered roadworthy in their own countries while importing countries should introduce stronger quality standards,” said UNEP’s executive director, Inger Andersen.
Developed countries must stop exporting vehicles that fail environment and safety inspections and are no longer considered roadworthy in their own countries while importing countries should introduce stronger quality standards,” she said. “Cleaning up the global vehicle fleet is a priority to meet global and local air quality and climate targets. Over the years, developed countries have increasingly exported their used vehicles to developing countries [and] because this largely happens unregulated, this has become the export of polluting vehicles.”
The agency cited an investigation by Dutch authorities in 2019 that found the average age of vehicles waiting to be exported was 18 years. They also had more than 200,000 km (125,000 miles) on their odometers on average, and many were missing catalytic converters that reduce toxic gases from the exhaust.
Mamo B Mamo, head of the nation’s National Environment Management Authority, mentioned the issue is exacerbated by the import of secondhand automobiles. “Though we actively participated in [the] phasing out of leaded fuels and capping of gasoline sulphur content material to 50ppm, the problem we now have is the adulteration of fuels and a poorly maintained public transport system. “While we need to expand, improve and promote an efficient public transport system, we must also promote nonmotorised transport infrastructure such as cycling lanes in new roads, and create car free areas in our urban centres,” mentioned Mamo. As properly as air air pollution, the report mentioned used automobiles are extra probably to trigger deadly accidents or severe accidents due to mechanical and security defects. Africa has the highest road fatality rates, recording greater than 240,000 deaths yearly.
