The recently-released annual global energy trend tracker, World
Energy Outlook (WEO), 2007 of the International Energy Agency,
has sounded the alert on India crossing the tipping point of per
capita GDP of $3000. This threshold, once crossed, says WEO,
vehicle ownership rates begin to escalate rapidly. The rolling
stock of vehicles continuously locks up huge amount of energy
and carbon. Increases toxic emissions in our cities. Suddenly,
widely different concerns have converged around vehicles –
public health, fuel splurge and climate impacts. For the first
time, Indian regulators are faced with this explicit connection.
This is the challenge of the balance – curb local air pollution
to save lives, and at the same time, shrink carbon and energy
imprints of vehicles to save fuels and the planet. The same
vehicles that spew life-threatening toxic fumes also emit heat
trapping gases. Even before Indian cities could deal with deaths
and illnesses from toxic air, the global warming imprints of
transport have tiptoe