Exporting old cars to developing nations adds to the air pollution in those countries: UN report

Getting rid of old cars is helping clean the skies overdeveloped nations, but many clunkers are ending up in developing countries where they are adding significantly to air pollution, a UN report warns.

The European Union, Japan and the United States exported around three million used vehicles each year between 2015 and 2018, with most going to low- and middle-income countries and more than half ending up in Africa, according to a report released Monday by the UN Environment Programme.

These old cars 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.

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.

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.

UNEP said that two-thirds of the 146 countries it looked at had weak rules regarding the import of used vehicles, and some had no pollution standards.



from Firstpost Tech Latest News https://ift.tt/3mJSoRd

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Elon Musk’s bid spotlights Twitter’s unique role in public discourse – and what changes might be in store

Twitter has been in the news a lot lately, albeit for the wrong reasons. Its stock growth has languished and the platform itself has largely remained the same since its founding in 2006. On April 14, 2022, Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, made an offer to buy Twitter and take the public company private. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission , Musk stated, “I invested in Twitter as I believe in its potential to be the platform for free speech around the globe, and I believe free speech is a societal imperative for a functioning democracy.” As a researcher of social media platforms , I find that Musk’s potential ownership of Twitter and his stated reasons for buying the company raise important issues. Those issues stem from the nature of the social media platform and what sets it apart from others. What makes Twitter unique Twitter occupies a unique niche. Its short chunks of text and threading foster real-time conversations among thousands of people, which
Read more

To reach net-zero emissions and remove CO2 from the air, scientists drawn up six priorities

Image
To reach net-zero emissions by 2050, global emissions must be cut faster and deeper than the world has yet managed. But even then, some hard-to-treat sources of pollution – in aviation, agriculture and cement making – may linger for longer than we would like. It will take time for clean alternatives to arrive and replace them. That means the world also needs to find and ramp up ways of taking CO₂ out of the atmosphere to stabilise the climate. Just meeting the UK’s net-zero target is likely to require the removal of 100 million tonnes of CO₂ a year , similar in size to current emissions from the country’s largest-emitting sector, road transport, but in reverse. The UK government’s announcement of £31.5 million (US$44.7 million) in support for research and development of carbon removal is welcome. And while trials of new tech will help, there are many social issues that need to be tackled if removing greenhouse gases is to succeed. Done right, carbon removal could be the perfect a
Read more

NASA is planning to partner with SpaceX to reboost the Hubble Telescope and extend its life

Image
The Hubble Space Telescope is one of the most important scientific achievements of the human species that has helped us understand space. It has been in orbit for over 30 years and has been feeding some of the most vital streams of information that has not only helped us steer our space exploration efforts, but also solve some of the more deep mysteries of the universe . NASA would love to extend its usable life for as long as possible. Unfortunately, for some years now, Hubble Space Telescope has been slipping out of its orbit. That is why, NASA is planning to team up with Elon Musk’s SpaceX and place it into a higher much more stable orbit. NASA, SpaceX and Jared Isaacman, a private astronaut with the Polaris Program, hosted a media teleconference on Thursday to announce a feasibility study that will look into sending a commercial Dragon spacecraft to reboost the Hubble Space Telescope . This will, in effect place the telescope into a higher and more stable orbit than it’s curren
Read more