India’s fuel efficiency not up to mark: CSE

Although India has taken giant strides in introducing emission standards for reducing toxic emissions from vehicles with the adoption of Bharat Stage VI standards in 2020, it has not taken equally strident and strong measures to improve fuel efficiency and carbon footprints of vehicles, says a new Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) report released on Wednesday.

The report is titled ‘India’s fuel economy benchmarks: How to make them work for an energy-efficient and climate-secure world.’

“This is a matter of serious concern. Vehicle numbers and freight transport are growing rapidly, leading to an exponential rise in fuel consumption at a time when the country already combating energy insecurity and the impacts of climate change - needs to raise the ambition for decarbonisation. Moreover, if fuelguzzling is not tamed, it can directly hurt consumers especially when fuel prices are skyrocketing,” said CSE executive director Anumita Roychowdhury.

So far, only Stage-1 fuel efficiency standards have been implemented – that too, only for passenger cars; Stage 2 standards are facing a delay.

“These standards are so lenient that most car models have either met or have exceeded them; many are also close to meeting the Stage 2 norms. A lenient benchmark cannot push technological innovations to maximise fuel and carbon savings, nor does it require large-scale electrification to meet fleetwide fuel efficiency targets,” added Roychowdhury.