A new study conducted by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), New Delhi, India has shown that 90 per cent of vehicles imported by Africans contribute to environmental pollution because they are old and used.
The centre said the vehicles heighten climate change because they emit toxic pollutants, and called for urgent global intervention to stop the unregulated dumping of old vehicles to reduce health and climate risks.
The centre, while revealing details of the study in a statement said: “About 80 to 90 per cent of vehicles imported to Africa are old and used. Emissions of toxic pollutants, heat-trapping greenhouse gases and black carbon are worsening public health and climate change risks.”
“Of the two billion global vehicle fleet, over 40 million vehicles, four per cent of global automobile ownership reach end-of-life every year. Large numbers of these get traded to low and middle income countries of Africa and South Asia,” the statement reads.
Importing countries, according to the statement, fight the problem with age-caps, higher taxes on older vehicles, emissions-based taxation or outright bans.
The centre suggested that exporting countries must also take responsibility to stop old and damaged vehicles from entering the global market, and support in-use emissions management and scrapping of older vehicles in poorer countries.
“Entire developing world, including vehicle-producing countries like India that use vehicles more intensely, face the challenge of scrapping their large stocks of end-of-life vehicles without the requisite capacity,” the statement also said.
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