Air pollution emitted from vehicles is a major factor contributing to disease and premature death for millions worldwide. As the world celebrates World Car Free Day on 22nd September, we look at how residents in Australia will mark the day.
Air pollutant emissions from vehicles are a major factor in respiratory illness, cardiovascular disease and even cancer, with poor air quality causing an estimated 3.5 million premature deaths a year worldwide.
According to the Climate Council, transport is Australia's third largest source of greenhouse gas emissions, with cars accounting for around half of the country's transport emissions.
Every year, on the 22nd of September the world marks Car Free Day, to mark the importance of a clean environment. On this day people are encouraged not drive just by themselves in their cars and instead use public transport, join a carpool, ride a bicycle or walk.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, there were 19.2 million registered motor vehicles in Australia as of January 2018.
World Car Free Day has been marked since 2000, beginning as a grassroots call to celebrate cities without cars. The date of 22nd September was originally chosen to coincide with the European Union-sponsored . People from all over the world are encouraged to mark the event in their local communities too.
Vehicle emissions are a very significant contributor to air pollution, which causes health problems.
Few of us would leave the tap running or the fridge door open, and many are diligent about turning off lights. But when it comes to air pollution, many people are wasteful and unaware.
We need major public health campaigns to change people’s beliefs about what they can do to reduce air pollution, similar to the campaigns and enforcement that made our public spaces smoke-free and our schools and beaches sun smart. Australia also needs stronger policy aimed at curbing air pollution.
The Australian government’s fuel efficiency standards and noxious vehicle emission standards , under way now, offers a chance to do that – but what’s been proposed so far doesn’t go anywhere near far enough.
A lack of awareness and weak standards
is cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease, dementia, cancer, pregnancy complications and adverse birth outcomes.
Many governments around the world now ask citizens to stay home when – meaning the mix of solid particles and liquid droplets in the air – from vehicles, fossil-fuel and wood burning are at hazardous levels.
And in some places are part of a broader push to cut the amount of harmful particulate matter, nitric oxide and nitrogen dioxide in the air.
Australia, by contrast, lags behind the rest of the world on policies to reduce air pollution. Take, for example, our rules on sulfur in fuels – a particularly damaging component of vehicle emissions.
Australia has one of the world’s most lenient sulfur standards for petrol, allowing 150 parts per million. That’s , Japan and the US. It’s three times what’s allowed in Brazil and China (China will allow just 10 parts per million from 2018).
Australia’s air quality standards, which are also being reviewed under the , feature good targets – even better than the World Health Organisation recommendations for PM2.5. However, without stricter measures to reduce vehicle emissions, these air quality targets will not be achieved.
The Australian government’s review of and standards is looking at particulate matter, ozone, nitric oxide and nitrogen dioxide (known collectively as NOx), and carbon. But what has been proposed so far worryingly includes a do-nothing scenario.
Doing nothing comes with significant cost
The OECD estimates that there are approximately due to ozone and (the very fine particulate matter from vehicle emissions which, when inhaled, goes deep into the lungs and can pass into the bloodstream), but that does not include NOx – so these are very conservative estimates.
To put this in context, there are and another 740 deaths due to vehicle emissions. This is a significant cost for choosing a transport system reliant on fossil fuel.
If the strictest standard being considered by Australia under the – the Euro 6 standard – is mandated for both light and heavy vehicles, a will be realised by 2040. This figure is very small compared to the current annual cost of vehicle pollution to Australia of .
But the standard Australia considers the strictest option is actually business as usual now in the US and Europe. Surprisingly, the doesn’t even discuss banning or phasing out diesel vehicles in cities – a policy that experts now consider global best practice.
What could be done?
The decisions being made this year on Australia’s fuel efficiency and vehicle emission policies can improve the health of our urban air. This is a great chance to simultaneously improve fuel efficiency, demand higher-quality fuels and implement emission testing for vehicles to improve the air in our cities.
In the short term, we can all try to use cars less often and not idle our cars when in use. Raising awareness helps; a recent study showed by exposing drivers of fleets to anti-idling initiatives.
Purchasing a vehicle with automatic will help cut vehicle emissions. This technology, popular in high-end European car models, automatically switches off the vehicle when it is still and allows the driver to restart the car when their foot presses the accelerator.
To achieve a population-level benefit from such technology, however, would require policymakers to include it in the , the national standards for vehicle safety, anti-theft measures and emissions. That process can take many years.
A more sustainable approach to air pollution would be to upgrade Australian refineries to supply low-sulfur fuel. Although costly, the alternative – the escalating health burden associated with vehicle emissions – is a cost too high for society to pay.
We cannot afford to continually invest in a transport system operated solely on fossil fuels. Supporting public transport that operates with “clean” fuels (such as our trams and trains, which run on electricity) will go some way to reducing air pollution in our cities. It is worth noting, though, that while our electricity is mostly fossil-fuelled, this only shifts the air pollution to someone else’s backyard.
Importantly, we need to raise public awareness of the quality of our air and ensure the government considers the long-term ramifications of short-sighted policies.
We must all do our part to improve air quality in Australia – and that means not idling your car, which is an offence that can as high as $5,000 and/or jail time in some parts of the world.
We can survive weeks without food, days without water, but only minutes without air. Let’s start treating our air as the valuable commodity it is.
