Gerhard Muller
Cities in developing countries are plagued with multiple problems such as congestion, pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, noise, and road accident. Air pollution, has been a preoccupation of policymakers and researchers over the years and it is attributed mainly to increase in population, and car dependency for travel. Increasing vehicle ownership, decreasing non-motorized transport usage, the presence of aged vehicles and inadequate maintenance of vehicles pose serious challenges to policymakers and government agencies responsible for maintaining good air quality.
It is evident that vehicle emissions are problematic not only for the global environment but also for human health and road safety. CO2 specifically leads to climate change and other vehicle emissions contribute to air pollution, causing negative health effects for the world’s inhabitants. It is generally acknowledged that a logical way to reduce these negative impacts would be to decrease vehicle emissions. Many support the view that a reduction in the number of vehicles on the road is an appropriate strategy to curb vehicle emissions. To that end, the increasing trend of private vehicle ownership could be replaced by increased reliance on public transportation.
The use of public and non-motorized transport and reduction of private car ownership especially for trips in urban areas are common trends in many countries that seek to reduce air pollution. The benefits of shifting from private to public transport are well known. For instance, a reduction in CO2 emissions by 2,180 kg per year could be achieved if a person who commutes alone by private car for a 32 km round trip switches to public transport for the same trip.
A number of studies on vehicle emissions have been undertaken in Ethiopia. This is important in the context of analyzing the environmental impact of used vehicles. In this regard, imported second-hand vehicles constitute 85% of the country’s vehicle fleet. The average age of vehicles in the country is 20 years, suggesting that public transport vehicles in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital city, are old and their emission levels are significant and beyond the expected environmental standard.
In Addis Ababa, while the fleet of public transport vehicles is less than 15% of the vehicle population, it contributes almost one-half of the hydrocarbon emissions and more than 27% of the carbon monoxide emissions by vehicles in the city. This implies that exhaust gases from public transport vehicles are major pollutants of the city’s air, with improperly maintained vehicles contributing significantly in that regard.
Today’s, guest of the Ethiopian herald is, Gerhard Muller, president of The International Motor Vehicle Inspection Committee (CITA). In the brief stay we had, he raised a range of issues directly or indirectly related to vehicles contribution to affect the livelihood of the people through emitting carbon. Have a nice read!
Lets us start with the purpose and goal of CITA’s establishment?
CITA is the international association of public and private sector organizations actively involved in mandatory road vehicle compliance. It was founded in 1969, Ostend, Belgium. CITA is dedicated to improving road safety and protecting the environment and to developing best practice on mandatory vehicle compliance activities. It is also an international forum for exchanging information, experience and expertise related to vehicle compliance and it recognized by the European Commission, the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, the World Health Organization, the Global Road Safety Facility of the World Bank and other international stakeholders for its expertise about vehicle compliance.
CITA has defined its Vision as enabling its members to play an influential role in the development and implementation of policies for safe and sustainable road usage. This vision will be supported by CITA’s Mission to provide the forums to create assess and promote best practice, ensuring safe and compliant vehicles throughout their life cycle. This will allow all members to play a leading role in shaping the future for sustainable Roadworthiness Inspection & Enforcement in all regions of the world.
Could you tell us CITA’s continuous commitment to create safer roads?
The year 2023 and 2022 were dominated by global crises. However, goals and measures to increase road safety and avoid traffic-related environmental pollution were high on political agenda around the world. The reason for this is that the global vehicle fleet will continue to grow rapidly and consequently the number of road accidents and the environmental impact. It is estimated that by 2050 there will be over two billion vehicles, many of which will still have an internal combustion engine.
This also increases the challenges for road safety and traffic-related environmental pollution, especially in urban regions. The demands to make transport more sustainable for a better quality of life are increasing: less noise, cleaner air, less congestion, better roads, and a lower risk of accidents.
Digitalization and transformation into automated and emission-free vehicles hold great promise for making transport ever safer, cleaner, and more sustainable. At the same time, however, these new technologies also create new risks that need to be controlled. With currently more than 250 million independent and valid vehicle inspections per year, CITA members make a significant contribution to addressing these major challenges.
Once again, CITA, together with its members and partners, successfully undertook many activities in the past year in order to develop solutions for these new challenges: We prepared recommendations and position papers, held conferences in Africa, Asia, North America and Europe, organized a large number of webinars and events, regularly exchanging views with all relevant stakeholders. All with the aim of increasing road safety worldwide and reducing the environmental impact of vehicles.
With the CITA Roadmap 2030, we are on the right track and well prepared for the challenges ahead. This was confirmed by the excellent results of the member survey conducted at the end of 2022, which gave additional motivation to the CITA association. This great achievement is due to the good and committed cooperation of the CITA secretariat and CITA members and I am personally very happy about it!
How do you explain the relations that your organization has with African countries?
African countries should set the minimum standard of vehicle inspection that enables them to reduce carbon emissions. Over 25 % of African countries are without a vehicle inspection system. I would be happy if every country would have a vehicle inspection system and they could agree on the minimum level. CITA’s goal is to improve road safety and emission behavior of vehicles. So, we want to help African countries improve road safety with better vehicles and reduce emissions from vehicles.
Our organization is recommending vehicle inspection procedures to prove vehicles further requirements so that vehicles are keeping safety over the whole life cycle and vehicles are keeping the safe emission standard over the lifecycle. So that they are not polluting much more than they are allowed to. If vehicles are not inspected properly, nobody cares about the emissions they release. So, the countries need enforcement, clear descriptions, and educated inspectors.
In 2021, in the frame of the “Safer and Cleaner Used Vehicles for Africa” project, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) just released the first two CITA reports. In this regard, CITA participates in the activity by providing its experience and knowledge on whole-life vehicle compliance in general and vehicle inspection.
The first report is an analysis of information sources, reference and benchmarks, and a proposal for an information-sharing system at the conceptual level. A review of best practice and sources of information has been carried out with the main focus on light duty vehicles. Principles, in general, are applicable to other types and categories. To improve the situation with a safer and more environmentally friendly vehicle fleet in African countries, requirements on the technical status of imported vehicles in the respective countries are essential. As support of these import regulations, it is also important to set up exporting countries’ rules.
The second report comprises the findings of the UN Road Safety Project “Safer and Cleaner Used Vehicles for Africa” project and establish a used vehicles inspection and monitoring framework and implementation compliance systems. In addition, the key results and recommendations of “Establish used vehicles information sharing system with data support”, of the same project, are also given in this report.
In order to improve the situation with a safer and more environmentally friendly vehicle fleet in African countries, it is essential to impose requirements on the technical status of imported vehicles in the respective countries. In support of these import rules, it is also essential to set up exporting countries’ laws.
Most of the time second hand vehicles are now emitting the environment. In this regard what do you advise developing countries in general and African countries in particular?
Transportation stands as a pivotal pillar within modern civilization, serving as both a catalyst for economic progress and a generator of employment opportunities. Yet, despite its undeniable significance and the advantages it brings an alarming reality: the transportation sector emerges as one of the largest and swiftest contributors to carbon dioxide emissions, accounting for a substantial 16.2 % of the total global CO2 emissions in 2020. This disconcerting trend exacts a toll on human well-being and the environment.
In response to this pressing challenge, the necessity of addressing air pollution concerns and reducing the overreliance on crude oil for road transportation. Achieving this transformation necessitates the adoption of innovative mobility concepts aligned with principles of sustainable socioeconomic advancement. On an international scale, countries grapple with the imperative to curtail carbon emissions originating from the transportation sector. Alternative energy sources have emerged as promising candidates to supplant fossil fuels, which currently power nearly 92 % of transportation fleets/vehicles.
Electric cars, also known as Electric vehicles (EVs), possess a smaller ecological footprint compared to traditional internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEVs). While certain aspects of their production may have comparable, reduced, or different environmental impacts, they have the advantage of emitting minimal to no tailpipe emissions. Furthermore, they help reduce reliance on petroleum, decrease greenhouse gas emissions, and mitigate the health effects caused by air and environmental pollution.
Pure electric vehicles are being seen by most African countries as the technology that will finally help them leapfrog to zero emissions thereby reducing the carbon footprint. They believe this will help them meet some of the sustainable development goals on clean environment.
In March 2018, about 52 out of 55 African countries signed on to the continental free trade area agreement with head office in Ghana. Standards will need to be harmonized across the continent to facilitate free trade, especially in vehicles. Most African countries have no standards on fossil fuel vehicles and electric vehicles. Current vehicle standards also need to be reviewed to enhance the attainment of the sustainable development goal on climate action.
Indeed, Electric vehicles save emissions so that they have a huge impact when compared to combustion engine vehicles, I really would like to encourage African countries to make it possible that more electric vehicles will be registered in the future. But you also need the infrastructure—the charging point. So this needs a lot of investment. But I think you should do both. You should try to become zero-emission vehicles as well as make sure that combustion engine vehicles do not emit more than they should.
CITA helps build such a system because we have many members who have been rocking in this field for decades. So they can share experiences, and we can share recommendations. CITA members also, for example, implemented a completely new system in Turkey 20 years ago, so we have experience with how to build up a vehicle inspection system. African countries could benefit a lot from CITA experiences.
CITA’s work in supporting electric charging in Africa and this is the perfect opportunity to provide clean transportation to organizations, businesses, and drivers across the region.
Thank you very much!
It is y pleasure! BY
GIRMACHEW GASHAW
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD SATURDAY 21 OCTOBER 2023
