Islamabad: The sub-committee members of the Senate Standing Committee on Climate Change have decided to regulate vehicular emissions across the country, a news source reported. For this purpose, the members have decided to table a bill in the senate.
Senator Muhammad Asad Ali Khan Junejo chaired a meeting in this regard on Thursday. Hem later revealed that the idea of determining an upper ceiling for carbon emissions under the country’s existing paradigm of automobiles and fuels availability (in the market) was discussed during the session.
Senator Junejo stressed that it was unwise to have vehicles on the road that released high levels of carbon into the atmosphere – with their manufacturers claiming to have large stocks of non-compliant fuel available. He added that this fuel was largely responsible for the influx of harmful emissions into the environment.
The senator revealed that the committee has prepared a tentative draft of the legislation, which will be presented to the Minister of State for Climate Change Zartaj Gul for her consideration. Her ministry would then provide its input and expert suggestions, he added.
Junejo stated that in the first phase, the committee would only regulate air pipe emissions of automobiles to ease the public into the change. He remarked that the global practice, on this front, was to conduct windpipe, tire, engine condition, and entire vehicle assessments during the vehicular emission testing stage.
The senator said that following the senate’s approval, the legislation would be forwarded to the National Assembly (NA) for gaining its acceptance. He added that apart from air pipe emissions, other testing aspects would be regulated after three years. However, he said, that they would get the legislation approved as a whole, and carry out its implementation in phases.
As per reports, Gul has extended her full support for this initiative. She has directed the Environment Wing and Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency (PAK-EPA) director generals to list the experts and stakeholders for consultation on this bill.
