Air pollution from cars, report: The average age of vehicles has not decreased, diesel dominates

2023-11-01 07:32:00, Sociale CNA

Air pollution from cars, report: The average age of vehicles has not decreased,

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The average age of the vehicles circulating in the country has been increasing, while the type of fuel they consume is dominated by diesel. A performance report titled "Impact of road transport vehicles on air quality" of the High State Control has analyzed the indicators of the last 5 years to see the panorama in the country. So the listeners note that if we carefully look at the progress during the period 2015-2022, there has been a significant increase in the number of road vehicles that use diesel, which pollutes the air more compared to other fuels.

"During the entire period 2015-2022, road vehicles that use these three types of fuel make up about 99% of the total fleet. So, road vehicles that use oil as fuel have not changed in their ratio to the total.

The total number of road vehicles has increased by about 220,000 vehicles from 2015 to 2022 or by 30%. In this increase, diesel vehicles have contributed the most, which have increased by about 158,000 from 2015 to 2022. The rest of the increase belongs to gasoline and gas vehicles (increased by about 30,000 from 2015 to 2022) and those with of gasoline which have increased by about 25,000 for the same period," the report states.

KLSH finds that the average age of the fleet of road vehicles for the last 8 years (2015-2022) is 17.25 years. So, if for the year 2015 for the entire fleet of road vehicles, the average age was 17 years, for the year 2022 the average age was 18 years.

"For the last 3 years (2020-2022), we observe an increase in the average age by at least 1 year compared to previous years. The increase in the average age of vehicles was also influenced by the increase in the number of vehicles with an average age of more than 20 years. Specifically, we have an increase of about 100,000 vehicles with an average age of more than 20 years, of which 85,000 vehicles are diesel and about 17,000 gasoline. The increase in the fleet of road vehicles with 100,000 vehicles with an average age greater than 20 years also increases the number of road vehicles with environmental categories "Euro 0", "Euro 1", "Euro 2" and "Euro 3", the audit states.

Referring to the findings of the auditors, the final report assesses that the measures taken by the responsible institutions were not completely sufficient to improve the road transport sector and therefore air quality.

"The commitments of the responsible institutions should be oriented towards renewing the fleet of road vehicles, implementing financial incentives in order to increase the number of ecological road vehicles, completing the legal and regulatory framework in accordance with the best international practices, as well as strengthening further air quality monitoring system. More specifically, it has resulted that the fleet of road transport vehicles has not undergone positive changes in terms of reducing the average age of road vehicles as well as the use of fuels with a low impact on air quality", underlines KLSH.

Likewise, it is said that the Albanian government has not transposed a number of important EU directives for the promotion and use of alternative fuel vehicles. Also, in its approved strategic documents, it has not specified measurable and achievable objectives, activities and targets. Therefore, the evaluation of the achievement or not of the measures it has foreseen remains subjective and impossible./ Monitor magazine