As the lockdown is expected to be lifted shortly in India, and to help counter the resultant rise in vehicular traffic and the resultant rise in pollution, União da Indústria de Cana-de-Açúcar (UNICA), a Brazilian sugarcane industry association, has urged the Indian government to ensure blending of ethanol with motor fuel to keep pollution under control.
According to a COVID-19 Air Quality Report, the air quality in India’s most polluted cites of Delhi and Mumbai improved drastically during the lockdown.
During the three-week lockdown period, Delhi’s air quality rated as ‘unhealthy’ and worse rated days plummeted from 68% in 2019 to 17% during the lockdown.
Mumbai observed a drop in ‘unhealthy’ air quality hours from 22.5% to 0.4%.
Now, anticipating a rise in pollution levels in India, UNICA said, “Brazil has success cases in its large cities with improved pollution levels (particulate matter) close to the World Health Organisation levels. Most of it is due to adoption of ethanol by Brazil in vehicle fuel.”
“India too can improve its air quality levels by introducing a mandatory ethanol blend and divert part of its sugarcane production to produce ethanol fuel. India has set an ethanol blending target of 10% by 2022,” a spokesperson said.
“Based on the Brazilian experience, a sound and clear policy regime in terms of pricing, procurement, and blending could help to achieve this target,” the spokesperson added.
“Given the vast experience in production of sugarcane, India has the potential to become the leader in ethanol production in Asia,” the spokesperson said.
