Imported used vehicles worsening air pollution in developing countries: UNEP
The export of used vehicles from the industrialized north to developing countries worsened polluting of the environment while undermining action on climate change, says a written report that premiered by the UN Environment Program (UNEP) in Nairobi on Monday.
Based on the report titled "Used Vehicles and the Environment: A Global Summary of Used Light Duty Vehicles: Flow, Scale and Regulation," between 2015 and 2018, some 14 million older, poor quality vehicles were exported from Europe, Japan and the united states.
Africa accounted for 40 percent of the imports.
Experts say that up to 80% didn't meet minimum safety and environmental standards in exporting countries.
As well as triggering accidents, these cars make polluting of the environment worse and contribute heavily to climate change.
Lots of the vehicles are also tampered with to eliminate valuable parts.
"Clearing up the global vehicle fleet is important to meet global and local air quality and climate targets," said Inger Andersen, the UNEP executive director.
"Through the years, developed countries have increasingly exported their used vehicles to developing countries, because this largely happens unregulated, this has end up being the export of polluting vehicles," she added.
The brand new UNEP report that was based on analysis of 146 countries finds that practically two-thirds had weak regulatory tools that compromised quality and safety of used vehicles imported from Japan, Europe and america, reports Xinhua.
"Developed countries must stop exporting vehicles that fail environment and safety inspections and are no more considered roadworthy within their own countries, while importing countries should introduce more robust quality standards," said Andersen.
The UNEP report says that lack of regional and global conventions to regulate trade and flow of used vehicles was to be blamed for declining quality of air in the global south alongside a spike in road accidents.
"Regulation is essential to ensure the quality of the vehicles and reduce urban polluting of the environment and global climate emissions," says the report.
It proposes outright bans, fiscal incentives, labeling and awareness creation to be able to reduce importation of second-hand vehicles by low and middle-income countries.
"Fiscal instruments could be an effective methods to regulate the import of used vehicles," says the report.
"Examples are age-based taxation, progressive excise tax predicated on carbon emissions, or engine size, and exemptions for specific vehicles, such as for example hybrid electric and electric vehicles," it adds.
The report says that research combined with harmonization of laws and policies is paramount to make sure that only second-hand vehicles that meet safety standards are exported to developing countries.
