The Hindu : New Delhi News : Greenpeace battles for fuel efficiency law

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Wednesday, Jul 09, 2008
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Greenpeace battles for fuel efficiency law

Bindu Shajan Perappadan

A nationwide awareness and petitioning drive launched

NEW DELHI: Greenpeace on Tuesday launched a campaign demanding mandatory fuel efficiency for the car industry in India and organised a demonstration at Connaught Place here to send out a reminder that increasing carbon dioxide emissions were contributing to climate change.

As part of the campaign, Greenpeace has launched a nationwide awareness and petitioning drive for consumers to pressurise the Bureau of Energy Efficiency to draft the fuel efficiency legislation.

“While consumers are aware of and even troubled by the noxious fumes and the pollution that vehicular emissions cause, they are not completely aware of the fact that vehicles emit carbon dioxide, a major greenhouse gas, which is the biggest contributor to global warming,” said Greenpeace climate and energy campaigner Soumyabrata Rahul.

Statistics from the Indian Automobile Association rate India as the second fastest growing market for cars globally which will lead to an incredible surge in fuel consumption and carbon dioxide emission over the next few years.

‘Law mandatory’

According to Greenpeace, legislation for progressive mandatory fuel efficiency was the immediate way ahead to tackle excessive carbon dioxide emissions from the booming Indian passenger car market.

“The simplest first step the government and industry can take together to combat the twin threat of climate change and energy security is to implement a fuel efficiency law now,” said Mr. Raut.

India already imports 78 per cent of its crude oil needs which will rise to 94 per cent by 2030 as estimated by the International Energy Agency. “India’s need for energy efficiency renewable and environmental conservation has gained greater urgency in the light of the spiralling price of crude oil,” added Mr. Raut.

Stating that automobile manufacturers pass their vehicles off as “green” by following Euro emission standards, a Greenpeace release said: “The onus is on the manufacturers to deploy technology to drastically reduce emissions. As a first step, the manufactures should label their cars and disclose information about their vehicles’ contribution to climate change.”

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