Pressing the Reset Button

The National Clean Air Plan, which targets all cities with high air pollution, must be converged towards the twin goals of cleaner and lesser vehicles

- SUNITA NARAIN

There are three key reasons countries need to electrify their vehicle fleet. One is climate change. The transport sector guzzles massive amounts of oil—petrol and diesel—and globally contributes roughly 15 per cent of the annual carbon dioxide emissions. Zero-emission vehicles, or electric vehicles (EVs), replace oil with electricity, generated ideally in renewable energy plants, and are hence seen as the solution.

The second reason, which is more important for "our" cities, is that replacing petrol and diesel vehicles with zero-emission vehicles will reduce local pollution. And third, it will save us valuable foreign exchange as oil consumption reduces. All of these are valid reasons to act. But these alone cannot usher in the change that is needed. We need a reset; a review of what we are doing and why, so that we can move not just the vehicle electrification agenda but get the benefits that are so desperately required.