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The Indian supreme court has passed a ruling to increase the country’s emission standards.

Starting April 1st, vehicles compliant with the Bharat Stage (BS)-III emission norm will no longer be legal to sell or register in India. The decision comes from the court ruling that commercial interests need to take a back seat to the “health of millions”. The decision could strike an almost SGD 2.5-billion blow to the Indian auto industry as nearly 820,000 vehicles (most of which are mopeds and motorcycles) will remain unsold as a result.

“The number of such vehicles may be small compared to the overall number of vehicles in the country but the health of the people is far, far more important than the commercial interests of the manufacturers,” a bench of justice Madan B Lokur and justice Deepak Gupta said, while rejecting a plea from auto manufacturers for time to dispose of the BS-III vehicles. The court, which has previously issued several orders to check pollution, said that the manufacturers were aware of the impending shift, but failed to take steps to prepare for it. India will transition to the more stringent BS-IV standard, which is already in place in some parts of the country, including Dehli.

The ruling is the result of a plea by the Indian environment pollution control authority (Epca), which petitioned that only BS-IV vehicles should be sold. Epca stated that new, cleaner fuel technology will never be achieved so long as older, and dirtier technology continues to flood the market. Most auto manufacturers in the country, with the notable exception of Bajaj, opposed the ruling.

The largest difference between the two emission types is the amount of carbon monoxide released. BS-III allowed for 2.3g of carbon monoxide to be emitted into the atmosphere per kg of fuel, whereas the new standard only allows a maximum of 1g per kg of fuel. In addition, the new BS-IV standard will see a significant cut in particulate emissions. New trucks, for example, can be expected to see an 80% drop in such emissions, while cars will boast an also impressive 50%. Similarly, hydrocarbon and nitrogen oxide emissions, a big concern for two-wheeled motorists, may drop between 40-80%.

India isn’t stopping at BS-IV however; the courts have declared a deadline of 2020 for switching to the even more stringent standard BS-VI.

source: Hindustan Times