Role of Policy Interventions in Limiting Emissions from Vehicles in Delhi, 2020–2030

Sanjib Pohit (), Rishabh Singh and Soumi Roy Chowdhury
Additional contact information
Rishabh Singh: Asian Development Bank Institute
Soumi Roy Chowdhury: Asian Development Bank Institute

No 1297, ADBI Working Papers from Asian Development Bank Institute

Abstract: Urban India, particularly metros, is a major hotspot of air pollution with a PM2.5 concentration level ranging above the permissible limits defined by the WHO for most of the year. Unsurprisingly, special efforts have been made by the Government of India in recent years to improve air quality. Since the transport sector is a major source of air pollution in urban India, the Government of India adopted BS-VI emission standards in 2016 in principle for all major on-road vehicle categories. The rollout of Euro 6 in India began with the capital city Delhi. Furthermore, India’s policy makers have been proactive in introducing clean fuel such as CNG, as well as electric vehicle and hydrogen fuel vehicles for urban transport. We analyze the interplay between the policy shifts on transport and the level of emissions for Delhi for the next 10 years. We devised three scenarios, starting with the optimistic scenario (OPS), which assumes that all of the set policy targets of the Government of India will be realized as planned. A pessimistic scenario (PES) assumes implementation of the optimistic scenario with a delay of 3 years, and finally, the business-as-usual scenario (BAU) assumes no policy interventions in the transport sector and a status quo to be in operation for the coming decade. We predict a significant decline in the emissions of particulate matter, hydrocarbon, carbon monoxide, and nitrogen oxides in the OPS/PES scenarios due to the proposed introduction of BS-VI and battery electric fuel vehicles. We find a 20.67% decrease in the overall PM emissions level in the city by 2030. By contrast, our BAU scenario predicts that emissions will increase significantly if no policy intervention is undertaken. In sum, policy interventions may lead to a substantial reduction in emissions in Delhi and thereby a longer life for Delhi inhabitants.

Keywords: air pollution; transport policy; auto industry; emissions; particulate matter; India (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F64 H23 I18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 17 pages
Date: 2021-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ene and nep-env
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.adb.org/sites/default/files/publication/762211/adbi-wp1297.pdf Full text (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ris:adbiwp:1297

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in ADBI Working Papers from Asian Development Bank Institute Kasumigaseki Building 8F, 3-2-5, Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100-6008, Japan. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ADB Institute ().