[sustran] Emission panel for pan-India shift to Bharat Stage V fuel by 2020

Vinay Baindur yanivbin at gmail.com
Mon May 12 14:36:24 JST 2014


http://www.livemint.com/Home-Page/Rz6u3kb13mDuXNzezwagAI/Emission-panel-for-panIndia-shift-to-Bharat-Stage-V-fuel-by.html





*Emission panel for pan-India shift to Bharat Stage V fuel by 2020*
Chaudhuri panel report submitted even as the WHO study dubbed Delhi the
world’s most polluted city

Kirthi V. Rao  |  Amrit Raj  |  Neha Sethi

New Delhi: A panel on automobile fuel emissions standards has recommended
that the government introduce the stricter Bharat Stage V emission norms
across India by 2020 to curb growing air pollution in the country, which is
home to 13 of the dirtiest 20 cities, according to a World Health
Organisation study.
Planning Commission member Saumitra Chaudhuri, who heads the panel to draw
up India’s auto fuel emissions standards road map till 2025, said that oil
refineries, as a first step, will be required to stop production of the
Bharat Stage III fuel and move to Bharat Stage IV by January 2017. Adoption
of Bharat Stage IV fuel in India is restricted to just 30 cities after
being introduced in 2010.
The panel, which was set up in December 2012 to revise India’s auto fuel
emissions standards, submitted its report to the petroleum ministry on 3
May.
India is almost a decade behind developing countries such as Turkey and
Brazil in introducing cleaner-burning fuel, Bloomberg News reported in
April.
The Chaudhuri panel’s report was submitted even as the WHO study dubbed
Delhi the world’s most polluted city. While the WHO study has been
challenged by the government, automobile fuel emissions are seen as a
leading cause for detriorating air quality.
In 2013, the Global Burden of Disease study said that outdoor air pollution
was the fifth-largest killer in India and around 620,000 early deaths
occurred from air pollution-related diseases in 2010.
Bharat Stage V standard specifies a maximum of 10 parts per million (ppm)
of sulphur in fuel as against 50 ppm in Bharat Stage IV and Bharat Stage
III 150 ppm. Sulphur in fuel makes it dirtier and lowers the efficiency of
catalytic converters which control emissions.
To meet the stricter fuel emissions standard, refiners will have to spend
an estimated Rs.80,000 crore, while auto makers will also have to make
vehicles suited to the higher quality fuel.
The recommendations, if accepted, may lead to an increase in the price of
the older Stage III fuel, as the committee has recommended closing the 75
paisa price gap between Stage III and IV fuel.
The panel has also suggested that the difference in excise duty on standard
and premium fuel be removed. Currently, the cleaner branded fuel is taxed
at a higher rate.
Two- and three-wheeler makers have been given an additional two years to
meet Bharat Stage IV norms, Chaudhuri said.
“The only thing that we wanted was to move straight away to higher fuel
emission norms and that has been taken care of by the panel,” said Vishnu
Mathur, director general of lobby group Society of Indian Automobile
Manufacturers Association. “Although we would have liked these
recommendations to be applicable earlier than 2020, you need to give time
to firms to recover the investments, which is fair.”
In a statement issued earlier this week, Delhi-based not-for-profit Centre
for Science and Environment (CSE) said Euro VI standards should be
introduced in the county by 2020-21 to address diesel toxicity.
If the report is accepted by the new government, most of north India will
introduce Bharat Stage IV by 1 April 2015. Other regions, including Kerala,
Karnataka, Telangana, Goa and Union Territories in western India, will
shift by 1 April 2016. The panel has recommended that all of north India
will then shift to Bharat Stage V by 1 April 2019.


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