Sustainable Urban Mobility in Asia (SUMA) News Digest 18 January 2008

[Aurora Fe Ables]

Sustainable Urban Mobility in Asia (SUMA) News Digest

Vol. 5 Issue 1
18 January 2008

SUMA News Digest is a free weekly e-mail publication that features
news, information, and events related to sustainable urban
transportation in Asia.

To contribute articles, news items, or event announcements for the
next issue, send an email with the complete details and URL source to
suma-ne...@googlegroups.com with subject "FOR SUMA NEWS".
mailto:suma-ne...@googlegroups.com?subject=FOR_SUMA_NEWS .

Past issues from Feb 2007 are found at http://groups.google.com/group/suma-news

*** VISIT THE SUMA PAGES: http://www.cleanairnet.org/suma ***

* * * * *
HEADLINES

EU: Cleaner trucks and buses: Tighter limits for nitrogen oxides and
particulate matter (Euro VI)
The Commission has proposed to reduce emissions from trucks and busses
of nitrogen oxides by 80% and particulate matter by 66% compared to
the Euro V stage. The new 'Euro VI' standard will significantly
contribute to a further improvement of air quality in Europe. It will
also be a step forward towards global harmonisation as it foresees
limit values similar to those of the United States of America.
http://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia/1412/article-72330.html

INDIA: Delhi to curb diesel pollution
The Delhi government has announced plans to cut diesel emissions in
the national capital region in the wake of strong public concerns
about rising numbers of diesel vehicles and diesel related pollutants
in the city's ambient air. The plan recently approved by the Cabinet
proposes an Environment Cess on diesel fuel. The revenue from this
cess will be used to create a fund to finance Delhi's clean air action
plan. Delhi Chief minister Sheila Dikshit has also written to the
Union government to introduce Euro IV diesel fuels and standards in
the National Capital Region by 2008-09.
http://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia/1412/channel.html

INDIA: 'World's Cheapest Car Environmentally Costly'
16 January 2008 By Praful Bidwai, IPS (Credit:Tata Motors)
Nothing has generated as much hyperbole in the global automobile
industry in recent years as the unveiling, last week, of an ultra-
cheap bare-bones car made by the Tatas, India's steel and engineering
giant.
http://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia/1412/article-72345.html

CANADA: Canada seen setting new car efficiency standards
16 January 2008 4:26pm EST, Reuters
Canadian Transport Minister Lawrence Cannon is planning an
environmental announcement at an international auto show on Thursday,
with one industry observer saying it was to announce new car
efficiency standards.
http://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia/1412/article-72346.html

BERLIN, GERMANY: Germany begins ban on polluting cars in city centers
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/world/view_article.php?article_id=109905
02 January 2008 8:17 GMT+8 Agence France-Presse, inquirer.net
Three German cities, including the capital Berlin, began implementing
a new air pollution system on Tuesday that bans the dirtiest vehicles
from their centers.
http://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia/1412/article-72326.html

BEIJING, PR CHINA: Beijing introduces cleaner fuel standards
01 January 2008 8:33pm EST Reuters
China has introduced cleaner fuel standards in its capital Beijing,
its latest effort to curb the city's notorious pollution ahead of the
Olympic Games in August. Under the new standards, retailers will be
required to supply gasoline and diesel equivalent to the Euro IV
standard, a move that will cut emissions of acid rain-causing sulphur
dioxide by 1,840 tonnes, the China Daily said on Wednesday, citing
Beijing's Environmental Protection Bureau.
http://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia/1412/article-72328.html

For more news on China see also Ms. Li Shuang and Ms. XiaoJia Bao's
CAI-Asia Project e-newsletter, http://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia/1412/article-69329.html

More air quality and sustainable mobility news at
http://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia/1412/propertyvalue-14783.html

* * * * *
INTERESTING FINDS

*UPDATED* Emission Standards for New Light-Duty Vehicles (as of 8
January 2008)
CAI-Asia Center has updated its chart on emission standards for light-
duty vehicles. See which countries in Asia are going for Euro 2, 3, or
4.
http://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia/1412/article-58969.html

BRT Planning Guide (2007)
The BRT Planning Guide is co-edited by Lloyd Wright, Executive
Director of Viva; and Walter Hook, Executive Director of the Institute
for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP). It was developed
through support from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the
Global Environment Facility/United Nations Environment Programme, and
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) GmbH.
http://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia/1412/article-72340.html

Two-wheeled Vehicle Ownership Trends and Issues in the Asian Region
(2003)
Yumiko NAGAI, Atsushi FUKUDA, Yuka OKADA, and Yoshihiko HASHINO
analyze the characteristics of two-wheeled vehicle ownership and four-
wheeled vehicle ownership in Asia, especially Thailand for both
macroscopic and microscopic points of view. The results of their study
show that ownership for both kinds of vehicles are highly dependent on
income levels. It also shows that ownership of two-wheeled vehicles
tends to be suppressed in the presence of public transport in the
urban area. However, ownership of two-wheeled vehicles increase
accordingly with the economic condition of the economic area even if
alternative public transportation was introduced. The study is
published in the Journal of the Eastern Asia Society for
Transportation Studies, Vol.5, October, 2003.
http://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia/1412/article-72350.html

Transport and GHG Emissions (2007)
Presentation by J. Short at the Transportation and Climate Policy.
11th Biennial Conference on Transportation, Energy and Environmental
Policy, Pacific Grove, California, 21-24 August 2007
http://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia/1412/article-72329.html

* * * * *
MARK YOUR CALENDARS

Better Air Quality (BAQ) Workshop 2008
12-14 November 2008 Bangkok, Thailand
Call for Abstracts ongoing
http://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia/1412/article-72312.html

TRB 87th Annual Meeting
13-17 Jan 2008 Washington, DC
http://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia/1412/article-72251.html

Transforming Transportation 2008
13-18 January 2008 Washington, DC
http://embarq.wri.org/en/ConferencesDetail.aspx?ID=55

JARI China Round Table 2008
19 January 2008 Shanghai, China
http://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia/1412/article-72316.html

The Art Center Summit 2008: Systems, Cities, and Sustainable Mobility
February 5-7, 2008 Pasadena, California, USA
http://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia/1412/article-72347.html

Third Regional Environmentally Sustainable Transport (EST) Forum
17-19 Mar 2008 Singapore
http://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia/1412/article-72269.html

International Conference on Funding Transportation Infrastructure & la
Dixième Journée Transport
19-20 Jun 2008 Paris, France
http://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia/1412/article-72268.html

4th International Symposium on Travel Demand Management
16-18 Jul 2008 Vienna, Austria
http://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia/1412/article-72218.html

Towards Carfree Cities VIII
16-20 Jun 2008 Portland, Oregon, USA
http://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia/1412/article-72243.html

See more SUT events http://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia/1412/propertyvalue-27089.html

See CAI-Asia's events calendar
http://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia/1412/propertyvalue-13577.html

* * * * THANKS * * * *
Thank you Li Shuang, XiaoJia Bao, Keiko Hirota, and Bert Fabian for
your inputs; and to Jaja Panopio and Mike Co for uploading the
articles. - Aurora Fe Ables, Editor, SUMA News; Transport Specialist,
CAI-Asia Center

* * * ABOUT SUMA * * *
The Sustainable Urban Mobility in Asia (SUMA) program of the Clean Air
Initiative for Asian Cities ( www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia), Asian
Development Bank (www.adb.org), EMBARQ-the World Resources Institute
Center for Sustainable Transport ( http://embarq.wri.org ), GTZ
Sustainable Urban Transport Project ( www.sutp.org), Interface for
Cycling Expertise (www.cycling.nl), Institute for Transportation and
Development Policy ( www.itdp.org), and United Nations Center for
Regional Development (www.uncrd.or.jp/est) is made possible through
the generous support of the Swedish International Development
Cooperation Agency (www.sida.se).

SUMA works with Asian countries and cities to strengthen then
formulation and implementation of sustainable urban transportation
policies, specifically in (i) improving urban air quality by adopting
AQM planning in sustainable transport policies and promoting public
transportation, (ii) improving road safety by encouraging non-
motorized transport and public transport, and (iii) reducing
transport's contribution to climate change by adopting a co-benefits
approach with urban air quality management.