One for the roads: Sustainable transport needs policy recalibration

The government’s decision to add a “sustainable transport” mission to its National Action Plan for Climate Change (NAPCC) will mark the first inclusion in the NAPCC in over a decade. The NAPCC mission for sustainable transport will encompass all the key elements of transport — from roads, railways, ports, shipping, and civil aviation. The real challenge for the government is to address the road sector. Unlike shipping and civil aviation, for which the government plans to align with international standards, there is no internationally agreed net-zero plan for the road sector. Transportation accounts for 10 per cent of the country’s greenhouse gas emission, but this figure understates the magnitude of the problem, which is primarily a result of road transport.

 

This sub-sector accounts for 87-90 per cent of the emission from the transportation sector, and for about a third of urban air pollution. Reducing emission in this sector demands a wide-angle approach that encompasses transforming logistics, consumer behaviour, and urban planning. A recent report in this newspaper suggests that the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways will focus on emission standards and reductions, such as Bharat VII emission standards, which align with Euro VII standards, and promote alternative fuels and electric vehicles (EVs). Transitioning freight movement from the road sector to the more optimum solution (emission-wise) of the railways will demand a significant re-adjustment of the railways’ structural inefficiencies, which have resulted in road freight accounting for 73 per cent of freight traffic movement. But it is in expanding the EV ecosystem that the ministry will have to significantly recalibrate its agenda.

 

The key challenge is to effect a significant transition from fossil fuel-driven transportation to EVs. Transportation, public and private, urgently needs an EV boost if it is to make an appreciable difference to urban air emission. Despite an elaborate incentive scheme in the form of the FAME [Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric (and Hybrid) Vehicles] programmes since 2015, EVs account for just 7-8 per cent of the vehicle market. At the same time, state transport organisations need to replace their fossil fuel-driven bus fleets with EVs. Electric buses account for just 6 per cent of the market in 2024, with only 3,616 registrations as against 41,000 for diesel buses. Critical to accelerating usage, however, is the need for charging infrastructure. India’s current record is poor, with one public point per 135 EVs, as against the global average of one per 6-20 EVs. With an ambitious goal of EVs constituting 30 per cent of new private vehicle registrations by 2030, analysts reckon that India will require 3.9 million public charging stations by then, up from the current minuscule 12,000-odd. If e-transport is to become a reality, the number must increase exponentially. The rider, here, however, is the power that runs the charging stations. If they draw on fossil-fuel energy as they mostly do now, such infrastructure will defeat the purpose of this initiative, given that thermal power accounts for more than half the emission in India. Establishing a larger network of, say, charging points powered by renewable-energy sources adds a level of complexity to the exercise. But these are realities with which the ministry must contend if the “net zero” objective in transportation is to become a reality.