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Diesel, the ‘fuel of the poor’, is better than petrol Diesel is the primary fuel used in the big vehicles and trucks. It costs less than petrol, and ensures greater fuel economy, as it contains more energy per litre than petrol. But, this fuel complicates the trade-off between efficiency and clean emissions. Diesel particulates are more hazardous and harmful than petrol emissions. The carbon dioxide released per unit of energy in diesel is higher than petrol. Also, the black carbon emitted from diesel vehicles is a potent greenhouse pollutant. 
In spite of this, auto companies are busy expanding their polluting diesel car fleet. This spells disaster. How? Let’s look at Delhi. It set an example to the rest of the country by saying no to diesel buses, and forcing the government to switch to the cleaner Compressed Natural Gas (CNG). But now, air pollution in the capital is reaching critical levels again. Why? Because a few thousand CNG-run buses cannot fix the damage being done by a few million diesel-run personal cars! The way out is by creating disincentives for heavier, bigger, and diesel cars. Just like Delhi. The Delhi cabinet has now decided to introduce an Environment Cess on diesel at the rate of 25 paise per litre. For starters, the cess will be imposed on diesel-run commercial vehicles. With the money collected as cess, the government plans to set up a fund called the Environment Cess Fund to help the introduction of clean air policy. All other pollution infested urban centres must either go the Delhi-way, or find a suitable alternative. Cars are more important than buses, as more people travel by cars While there has been a phenomenal growth of private vehicles in our cities, large numbers of people – an estimated 60 per cent and above – still travel by bus or bicycle or walk to work. Yet, the share of buses in the total fleet in India has dwindled from 11 per cent in the 1950s to 1.1 per cent today. This is visible in the use of road space. For instance, in Delhi, personal vehicles – cars and two-wheeler – use up more than 75 per cent of the road space but meet only 20 per cent of the commuting demand. But, buses that use less than 5 per cent of the road space, meet more than 60 per cent of the travel demand. So, personal cars in India have not replaced the buses, they have only marginalised them. The message is loud and clear – cars do meet our aspirations, but they do not meet our needs. Our needs are met by public transport.
Developing countries like India and China are stressing the environment There are two worlds – industrialised/developed countries (the North) and developing countries (the South). Now, developing countries like India and China are experiencing rapid economic growth. Their per capita income is growing, and so are their demands for food and fuel. The industrialised world is accusing these countries for creating global energy crisis. How? They allege, supported by many politically motivated data and reports, that the South is consuming more non-renewable resources and thus, emitting more greenhouse gases, which is causing global warming. But the fact is that the North, with only 20 per cent of the earth’s population, accounts for 85 per cent of the global consumption of non-renewable energy. On a per capita basis, the North releases much more greenhouse gases than an Indian or Chinese. The North has already used much of the planet’s ecological capital. It has already gobbled-up much of the global energy resources. And has already set off the climate change process. So, it is the North that should start cleaning up the mess, quickly. But, what is it doing? It is playing the blame-game, and refusing to tone down its lifestyle. Developing countries like India and China are demanding their space to ‘grow’. Asking them to reduce carbon emissions now, amounts to asking them to freeze their standards of living as they stand today. This, in fact, amounts to freezing global inequality because then some countries will always be more developed than the rest. Why should they accept that? Especially since the Unites States — the largest emitter of them all — still refuses to make a firm commitment to cut its use of carbon-based fuels.
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