Over the last year or so, Mobility Outlook, in association with Corning India, has hosted several discussions exploring innovations in clean air technologies. The concluding session of the series of four such discussions was held on June 3, 2020 on ‘Catalysing Clean Air in India: Enabling Cleaner and Greener India’.
Air pollution has become a health hazard and is more dangerous for humans than lack of exercise, said Sudhir N Pillai, Managing Director, Corning India, while making the opening remarks on the subject. “It actually kills more people than smoking. Numbers tell us that air pollution kills more than 1.6 million people every year. It’s time we fight together to find a permanent cure for the same,” appealed Pillai.
The session, in addition to Pillai, featured KK Gandhi, veteran auto and fuel expert, and Convenor, Centre for Auto Policy & Research (CAPR) and Pamela Tikku, Officiating Director, International Centre for Automotive Technology (ICAT).
Coincidentally, the discussion was held just two days before World Environment Day, observed on June 5th every year. This year, the day was observed with the theme of #OnlyOneEarth. This theme, as pointed out by Deepangshu Dev Sarmah, Founding Editor, Mobility Outlook, was first used in 1962, when the first gathering had taken place to observe World Environment Day.
1.6 Million Deaths In India
A report published by The Lancet Planetary Health indicated that more than 1.6 million people had succumbed to health issues created as an aftermath of air pollution in India in 2019. The country, that year, had recorded the most number of deaths caused due to air pollution. Pollution, in 2019, was responsible for more than nine million deaths (globally), while air pollution, specifically, was a cause of over 4.5 million deaths.
Terming air pollution a global catastrophe, Tikku said it is killing people slowly, and the impact will be much bigger in the future. Raising red flags against air pollution, she advised the industry, government and everyone else involved to work together and strike a balance, to find what's wrong, and to work on finding a solution for the problem.
Although India has taken a lead in mandating stricter emission control norms, pollution caused by two-wheelers, in particular, needs to be dealt with strictly. This is crucial for countries like India, China and Taiwan because a majority of the automobiles sold and operated in these markets are two-wheelers, she argued.
What's The Automotive Industry Doing?
It is common for NGOs, governments and even the common man to blame the automotive industry for air pollution. After all, the first thing every one of us sees the moment we step outside of our homes or offices are vehicles. However, most of us forget that the automobile industry is one of the biggest symbols of growth in a country. The same not only represents how fast a country is growing, but it also gives a deep insight into the local manufacturing prowess.
The contribution of the automobile sector to India’s overall GDP stood at 7.1%, while the manufacturing GDP stood at 49% in the last fiscal. The Government of India has announced two Production Linked Incentive (PLI) schemes around the auto sector, with an outlay for over INR 44,000 crore. These numbers are proof enough to understand how crucial the automobile sector is for the growth of an economy. Moreover, it is not as if the industry is not trying to control the emission levels.
Tikku argued, “Mobility is key to development. Mobility moves people and goods. The emissions from automobiles are decreasing dramatically. Emissions from tailpipes, thanks to the government of India, are much lower and cleaner than what it was earlier.”
She highlighted that India is at par with countries in Europe, as well as other like Korea, China and Japan when it comes to meeting stricter emission norms.
In fact, India, which leapfrogged from BS4 emission norms to BS6 levels in 2020, has already started discussions around BS7, CAFÉ 3, and two-wheeler fuel efficiency. Speaking about these advanced emission regulations, Gandhi said, once implemented these will further bring down pollution levels in India.
“We will have zero emissions from automobiles by 2047. The question is how we manage the transition to 2047 from now,” he said.
Gandhi advised exploring different types of fuels for different types of mobility needs. LNG, for example, can be a good fit for the commercial category of automobiles on long-haul duties. Hydrogen fuel cell, CNG, electric powertrain, etc, might prove to be the best fuels for shorter hauls in the personal as well as commercial automobile categories.
He also requested the Government of India to explore the possibility of a PLI-based incentive scheme on zero emission technologies for automobiles. “India should not blindly follow what other countries are doing. We need to develop solutions that not only help cut emissions but also help in cutting our dependency on others,” Gandhi advised.
Tikku, echoing Gandhi’s views, noted that it does not make sense to decrease our dependence on one region (Gulf for petroleum) and increase the same on other regions (China for lithium ion cells). She strongly advised on exploring and developing local solutions for long-term transportation and mobility needs of our country.
Why Blame Just One Industry?
While air pollution, its after effects, and the toll it takes on human life is a serious cause of concern not just for India but for the rest of the world too, is it justified to blame just one (the automobile industry) for the same?
The Supreme Court of India, on November 15, 2021, had termed construction activities, industrial emissions and vehicular pollution as some of the major causes of air pollution in the country’s capital city, Delhi. Moreover, there are instances of fossil fuel burning, construction, diwali crackers and others adding more smoke to the environment.
It is also worth noting here that while farm fires had contributed only 10% of the PM2.5 particles on November 15, 2021, these figures were close to 48% a week before that. A report by BBC noted that there were 57,000 fires in Haryana and Punjab during the first two weeks of November. These were the highest since 2012.
The automobile industry, and stakeholders involved in the vertical, seem to be leaving no stone unturned to improve the emissions further from where they are today. For example, Corning Incorporated has invested close to $2 billion, and created more than 1,000 patents, to serve the environmental technology needs during the last five decades. Corning claims to have prevented four billion tonnes of hydrocarbons, four billion tonnes of Nitrogen Oxide, 40 billion tonnes of Carbon Monoxides from being released in the environment.
Corning's filters have caught more than one million tonnes of particulate matter from being released in the air. The company has also broadened its India portfolio and is now offering customised emission control solutions to Indian automobile OEMs.
“Looking at just one industry is not going to solve the air pollution problem. The problem should be looked at and answered from a holistic view,” concluded Pillai.