Three years from now, the people of Bogota will breathe better air. Today, the air is highly polluted with particulate matter (PM10). The Ministry of Energy and the Ministry of Environment will sign a resolution through which Ecopetrol, the Colombian Oil Company, is committed to provide 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 in 2013. A 500 ppm sulphur diesel will be provided from July 2008 in Bogota. For the rest of the country, sulphur content will be 3000 ppm from July 2008, and 500 ppm from July 2009. These targets are tied to an investment plan by Ecopetrol in new plants for its refineries. The Ministry of Treasury says that reaching the targets will result in an overcost by 770 pesos (0.38 USD) per gallon.

Through the Partnership for Clean Fuels and Vehicles (PCFV), UNEP has recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Government of Afghanistan to facilitate the phase-out of lead used in fuels in the country. As part of the MoU, Afghanistan will receive lead test kits and an analyzer to start the country-wide testing of lead content in blood of its inhabitants. A training workshop for policy makers and stakeholders is also planned for early 2008. Afghanistan is one of the handful of countries in the region that still uses leaded fuel. The signing of the MoU is part of the global PCFV/UNEP campaign to phase-out leaded gasoline, which has proven negative impacts on human health and the environment. As a result of PCFV work, 46 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa had gone unleaded since 2006, and earlier this year Indonesia and Syria have also converted to unleaded fuel.

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The Kenya Government approved the upgrading of the Mombasa refinery on 3 May 2007. This will enable the refinery to produce lower sulphur levels in fuels to 50 ppm or below. Currently sulphur levels in diesel stand at about 10,000 ppm. New technology will also allow Kenya to produce unleaded gasoline in a more cost effective way. The upgrading is estimated to cost about US$322 million.

This is good news for UNEP and the Partnership for Clean Fuels and Vehicles (PCFV) who have been liaising with the Government and industry players on ways to reducing sulphur levels in fuels to improve urban air quality. UNEP/PCFV together with other partners plan to organize a sub-regional workshop for Eastern Africa in the second half of this year to discuss options for improving urban air quality through clean fuels and vehicles, waste management, addressing indoor air pollution and reducing industrial and mining pollution. >> Read more