The Impact of Vehicle and Fuel Standards on Premature Mortality and Emissions

Highlights

• 50 percent of urban vehicle emissions and associated health impacts currently occur in regions that account for only twenty percent of global vehicle activity, especially developing regions of the Middle East, Africa, Latin America, and the Asia-Pacific.
• Diesel trucks and buses, especially those with minimal emission controls, account for more than 80 percent of global fine particle and nitrogen oxide emissions from road vehicles.
• Accelerated adoption of stringent fuel and vehicle standards in those jurisdictions that do not currently mandate the equivalent of Euro 6/VI or U.S. Tier 3 regulations, would prevent 210,000 premature deaths in 2030 and mitigate 1.4 GtCO2e (applying GWP-100 metric) cumulatively from 2015 to 2030, 95 percent of which would come from reductions in black carbon. The climate benefits are 3.5 times greater when considering near-term impacts (using GWP-20).
• Accelerated policy adoption in China and India alone would prevent 90,000 early deaths in the year 2030, about 40 percent of the global total.