National Activities - Latin America & Caribbean

CHILE

Diesel Retrofit Project in Santiago de Chile

Since 2006 the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA), through the PCFV Clearing-House, has supported the Chilean environment agency CONAMA in the design and implementation of a heavy duty diesel vehicle retrofit project in Santiago.

Ten municipal service trucks (waste, delivery and construction) were retrofit with particle filters to assess their potential for reducing pollutants (especially particulates) when combined with low-sulphur diesel fuel (50 ppm or less). A number of diesel particle filter technologies were used in the testing, and the results of the project are now available for download - English language version available soon.

The results for high and medium temperature exhaust motors show a 95% reduction in carbon monoxide, 97% reduction in hydrocarbons, a 90% drop in particle mass, and a 99.9% reduction in ultra fine particles when using a continuously regenerating particulate filter.

The PCFV Sulphur Working Group report includes information on appropriate technologies and their combination with low sulphur fuels.

BRAZIL

FIA Foundation and Automobile Association of Brazil Host Cleaner Fuels and Vehicles Event for Latin American Auto Clubs

The FIA Foundation, a PCFV Partner and non-profit federation of motoring organisations, in cooperation with the Automobile Association of Brazil (AAB) and with support from the Clearing-House of the PCFV, organised a one-day workshop on March 15th, 2006 on cleaner fuel and vehicle issues for Latin American automobile club representatives and participants from the Brazilian government, national fuel and vehicle industries, international organizations and regional NGOs. This was the first event for auto clubs addressing cleaner fuel and vehicle issues in the region.

Workshop Pages:

COLOMBIA

The PCFV, together with the National University of Colombia, organized two national fuel quality symposiums in the country to promote the outcomes of the South America Sulphur conference, and to create dialogue between the Ministry of Energy, the Ministry of Environment, and Ecopetrol. In late 2007, these parties agreed to supply diesel fuel with a sulphur content of 50 ppm from January 2010 onwards in Bogota. This fuel will be available in the rest of the country from 2013. 500 ppm sulphur diesel will be available in Bogota from July 2008. For the rest of the country, sulphur content will be 3000 ppm as of July 2008, and 500 ppm from July 2009.

MEXICO

Latin America Regional Cleaner Fuels and Vehicles Workshop

All meeting documents, including presentations, are available on SEMARNAT's website.

A workshop focusing on cleaner fuels and vehicles in Mexico and Central & Latin America was held in Mexico City, 3-4 November 2005. The Mexican environmental agency, Secretario de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales), and the Centro Mexicano de Derecho Ambiental, a leading environmental NGO, jointly planned and hosted the workshop, involving senior US, Canadian and Mexican environmental officials, civil society, car manufacturers and the fuels industry.

Discussions focused on North and Latin American lessons learned from sulphur reduction in fuels, the health effects and costs of air pollution (in particular vehicular PM emissions), cleaner vehicle technology (including retrofit technology, hybrid vehicles and more efficient diesel engines), strategies for more efficient transportation systems (including Mexico's experience with Bus Rapid Transit corridors and bus retrofits and Chile's Transantiago initiative) and the resulting savings in terms of improved human health.

Participants put forward recommendations for cleaner fuels and vehicles in Mexico and the LAC region, including developing emissions standards for new vehicles, promoting heavy diesel retrofits and initiating a regional network to support the introduction of cleaner fuels. Download full document

EPA launches Diesel Retrofit Project in Mexico

The Administrator of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Michael O. Leavitt, along with representatives from the World Resources Institute, Mexico, the Mexican Ministry for Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT), and the Center for Sustainable Transport in Mexico City launched the Mexico City Diesel Retrofit Project on 21 June 2004 in Mexico City. The US Agency for International Development (USAID) also contributed funding for this project.

The project is a pilot project to retrofit a limited number of Mexico City buses with advanced emissions control technology to reduce emissions of particulates and other pollutants from diesel engines. Mobile sources, especially older diesel-powered trucks and buses, are a major cause of air pollution in Mexico City.

The Mexico City Diesel Retrofit Project is one of many efforts that EPA has been engaged in to implement the Partnership for Clean Fuels and Vehicles.SEMARNAT joined the Partnership very early on, and was involved in the very first event in Johannesburg, South Africa. This project is one of the most tangible results from EPAs global commitments.

The project is designed to demonstrate how the combined use of cleaner fuels and diesel retrofit technologies can perform when applied to diesel engines operating under Mexico City conditions. The project is similar to diesel retrofit projects now underway in US cities, including Seattle, New York City, and Washington, D.C., where fleet owners and operators have committed to retrofit more than 150,000 diesel powered trucks, buses, and non-road equipment. Retrofit technologies can reduce diesel particulate emissions by 90% or more.

EPA and EMBARQ, the World Resources Institutes Center for Transport and the Environment, are awarding grants totaling $511,000 to the Center for Sustainable Transport, a Mexico City-based non-governmental organization to implement the project. This project represents a unique international collaboration between two countries, two non-governmental organizations and a capital city. The pilot is expected to last one year.

The project will draw on EPAs expertise, along with a variety of partners and technical advisors, representing some of the best air pollution experts in the Western Hemisphere. These include: Dr. Mario Molina of MIT; the Environmental and Energy Technology Policy Institute (EETPI); Northeast States Center for a Clean Air Future (NESCCAF); the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC); International Truck and Engine; Volvo; Daimler-Chrysler; Engine, Fuel and Emissions Engineering Incorporated, and Ambientalis.

When completed, the project is expected to demonstrate that significant reductions in harmful emissions from older, heavy-duty diesel engines can be achieved cost effectively through a combination of tailpipe control technologies and a new generation of clean diesel fuel. The fuel used in this project is ultra-low sulfur diesel, which is increasingly used in many US and European cities.

The project is beginning as a demonstration of the use of diesel retrofit technologies and low-sulfur fuel in reducing emissions from existing buses in Mexico City. However, it could, if successful, be replicated across Mexico City, along the U.S.-Mexico Border, in other cities in Mexico, and ultimately in other countries. The Mexico City Diesel Retrofit Project is EPAs first international retrofit project, and is already serving as a model for other EPA projects in key areas of the world in Thailand, Chile and India, and perhaps in China and Central America.

Other press releases:

Creation of the Center for Sustainable Transport in Mexico City

On May 31, 2002, EMBARQ (The WRI Center for Transport and the Environment) signed a formal memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Mexico City authorities to create and implement an integrated strategy to help begin to solve transport-related problems in Mexico City.

The MOU created the Center for Sustainable Transport in Mexico City within CEIBA, a prominent Mexican NGO. The Center works on a day-to-day basis with the government of Mexico City, helping to manage the development and implementation of a complex program of work aimed at yielding measurable, near-term improvement in air pollution and congestion from the transport sector. This alliance is complemented and supported by active participation of major vehicle and fuel suppliers. The World Bank and Global Environment Facility are funding Mexico Citys efforts.

Additional information:

Meetings and Events