International Council on Clean Transportation

Technical research and policy analysis to advance sustainable transportation worldwide.

Regions

World map

The regions where ICCT works face very different transportation policy challenges. In some, significant progress has been made on conventional pollutants but cutting greenhouse gas emissions remains a major problem. In others, rapid growth in the number of vehicles threatens to overwhelm efforts to control both conventional pollutants and greenhouse gases.

Asia

Asia is home to the world’s fastest growing economies. China and India in particular are motorizing their transportation systems so quickly that even large efficiency improvements could be canceled out by the increasing number of vehicles on the road. ICCT is working with the governments around Asia to reduce emissions of both conventional pollutants and greenhouse gases.

Transportation in the region is fantastically diverse. Countries like Japan and South Korea already have well-established automobile industries and a long history of air quality regulation. Meanwhile, fast-growing nations like China and India are quickly developing both auto industries and regulations to limit emissions from the vehicles they produce. They are also major factors in the international effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector. Throughout the continent, the abundance of two- and three-wheeled vehicles presents a unique challenge to regulating air quality.

Europe

The 27-member European Union is a global leader in controlling vehicle emissions of both conventional pollutants and greenhouse gases. If the EU adopts proposed standards, the region’s passenger vehicle fleet, already one of the world’s most efficient, will be required to reduce carbon dioxide emissions an additional 40 percent by 2020.

Because of Europe’s leadership role in setting standards for the reduction of conventional and greenhouse gas pollutants, the ICCT works with EU regulators to develop rules that are as technically advanced and cost-effective as possible.

Latin America

Latin America’s megacities have some of the world’s worst air pollution and most difficult transportation policy challenges. But efforts to reduce emissions from cars, trucks, and buses have begun to make an impact.

In 2004, ICCT participant and Nobel laureate Mario Molina oversaw the development of a plan to clean Mexico’s air in a decade by reducing fuel sulfur levels, installing state-of-the art pollution controls on cars and trucks and retiring older, dirty vehicles. Since then, the ICCT has worked extensively with Mexican regulators to support implementation of the plan.

Brazil’s sugar cane-based ethanol fuel industry is a model for sustainable industry, though some experts contend that the unique combination of sugar cane as a feedstock and abundant agricultural land make it impossible to replicate elsewhere. Innovative transportation programs such as Curitiba’s bus rapid transit system also contributed to improved air quality and reduced greenhouse gas emissions. But the country’s heavy-duty truck fleet is dominated by vehicles that run on high-sulfur diesel, preventing the use of up-to-date pollution control technologies. The ICCT has work to help address Brazil’s unique fuels situation workshops and research into best practices for addressing emissions from heavy-duty vehicles.

North America

The United States has been a leader in reducing conventional pollution from vehicles, but has lagged on fuel economy standards and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The EPA and DOT recently announced new, more stringent fuel economy and GHG standards, but other nations have committed to further progress as well, so the U.S. may continue to trail on those measures.

Canada has had great success reducing emissions of conventional pollutants such as NOx and volatile organics, but additional measures have been required on CO2. In 2007, Canada set up a “feebate” program that offers rebates to customers who buy more efficient cars and taxes the purchase of lower mileage models.

The ICCT is an active player in the implementation of AB 32, the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006. ICCT president Alan Lloyd chairs the Economic and Technology Advancement Advisory Committee, which is charged with identifying and finding ways to implement new technologies that can help the state reach its greenhouse gas reduction goals. The ICCT has also advised the California Air Resources Board on how to allocate allowances in a cap-and-trade system.

Spotlight: Regions