Usage Of Old Heavy-Duty Vehicles Escalates Air Pollution-Report.

By jean Pierre Afadhali 

The usage of heavy-duty vehicles (HDVs) is significantly contributing to air pollution in African countries and the wider developing world, amid lack of policies to control the imports of old vehicles responsible for high levels of CO2 emissions, reveals the latest report by United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

According to the report titled “Used Heavy Duty Vehicles and the Environment - A Global Overview of Used Heavy-Duty Vehicles: Flow, Scale and Regulation” heavy-duty vehicle (HDV) exports represent a modest 3.6 percent of the global automotive trade's total value,  but their associated CO2 emissions have surged by over 30 percent since 2000, with trucks contributing 80 percent to this increase.

Data from the report, launched this week on Thursday 22 February at UNEP headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya suggests, HDVs participate substantially to environmental pollution, accounting for over 40 percent of on-road nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions, over 60 percent of on-road particulate matter (PM 2.5), and more than 20 percent of black carbon emissions.

Northern Corridor, a trade route that links landlocked countries in Great Lakes with the Kenya maritime seaport of Mombasa, comprised of 6 countries namely Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya and South Sudan is said to be the busiest in East and Central Africa as thousand of trucks ply the route from the port of Mombasa to hinterland countries.

Speaking during the report launch, Director of Transport and Planning in Northern Corridor Transit and Transport Coordination Authority (NCTTC), Emmanuel Imaniranzi revealed, the average of daily truck traffic ranges between 2000 to 3,000 and a fleet size of approximately 12,500 trucks. He added the route also facilitates freight of a total of 75,000 tons daily.

Imaniranzi stated such a huge truck activity is plying on the road network of approximately 12,500 kms coupled with the amount of fuel the trucks are consuming daily, they are greatly responsible for air pollution.

In a bid to deal with air pollution, Northern Corridor partnered with UNEP and Climate and Clean air coalition to come up with a green freight strategy which runs between 2017-2021, among other initiatives to curb air pollution from HDVs.

“The program focused on fuel efficiency and reduction of carbon emissions,” explained Imaniranzi at a press conference.

The report jointly launched by the UNEP and the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC), provides a first global overview by the UN of the scale and regulation of used HDVs and their contribution to global air pollution, road accidents, fuel consumption and climate emissions.

Used vehicles to grow

HDVs are projected to considerably continue to grow with increasing economic activities and the need to move people and goods. This is based on past trends where global sales of trucks and buses doubled in 15 years (2000-2015).   

In Africa, Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa are the biggest importers of HDVs. Many developing countries rely on used heavy duty vehicles (HDVs) imports to grow their fleet. While this promotes more affordable means to increasing mobility needs in these countries, the report finds that regulation and enforcement on the quality of used HDVs imported are either low or non-existent.

Rob de Jong, head of UNEP's Sustainable Mobility Unit, said: “Trucks and buses contribute to economic growth just about anywhere in the world, but ambitious regulations are needed to curb their emissions causing major environment and health impacts. Introduction of cleaner bus technologies can be a major driver for the global revolution to low and, ultimately, zero emissions transport.”  

Meanwhile, NCTTA targets to train 1,000 truck drivers to improve the fuel efficiency of the trucks by approximately 10 percent by 2030.

“We want to reduce on black carbon by around 12 percent as compared to the current status,” said Imaniranzi during the report launch.

The report findings suggest that the global sale of new and used HDVs doubled between 2000 and 2015, with CO2 emissions increasing by about one third in the same period. 2018 saw the peak of the export of both new and used HDVs, however, 2019 and 2020 saw a decline due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

A significant share of used HDVs (60 percent) is traded in high income or upper-middle-income countries. One-third of the total global used HDVs is absorbed within the EU, 20  percent is exported to Africa, another 20 percent to Asia-Pacific and the rest is exported to the other regions.

Amid increasing air pollution, the new study finds that, many low- and middle-income countries rely on imports of used buses and trucks.

Furthermore, the report notes “even though HDVs are significantly fewer in number compared to light duty vehicles (LDVs) in countries across the world, they are a major contributor to air pollution, road accidents, high fuel consumption and climate emissions.

The study recommends “the introduction of minimum quality standards of used HDVsshould be promoted as an affordable way for low- and middle- income countries to access advanced vehicle technologies, including electric buses and trucks.”

“In regions that have yet to put in place harmonised standards, actions need to be taken to initiatethe process.Having regionally harmonised standards will contribute greatly to deter import of obsolete, unsafe, dirty, and faulty used HDVs,” read a recommendation.

Report authors remind exporting and importing countries, in regions that have yet to put in place harmonised standards, actions need to be taken to initiate the process.

“Having regionally harmonised standards will contribute greatly to deter import of obsolete, unsafe, dirty, and faulty used HDVs.”