It was in 2014 when a report (http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/701891468285328404/pdf/890650PUB0Clea00Box385269B00PUBLIC0.pdf) by the World Bank, titled Cleaning Pakistan’s Air, revealed startling facts about the extent of air pollution in Pakistan. It categorically stated that the “harm from Pakistan’s urban air pollution is among the highest in South Asia”.

The report strongly recommended reducing air pollution from ‘mobile sources’.One of the proposed interventions was reducing sulfur contentin diesel and fuel oil. Low-sulfur fuels would help reduce sulfur dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere.

Then in 2018, the ‘R-Smog’ report (http://www.gcisc.org.pk/R-SMOG-Report.pdf) by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) recommended improving the fuel quality to reducing air pollution from ‘road transport’ and shifting to cleaner fuels. It also urged reducing sulfur content in fuel saying this would allow engine makers to use new emission reduction technologies.

One of the highlights of FAO’s report was that in the Punjab the transport sector contributes 43 per cent to air pollution, followed by industry whose share is 25 per cent. Agriculture accounts for 20 per cent and power sector contributes 12 per cent.

“The refineries making fuel out of crude oil in Pakistan are 40-60 years old. They do not have the necessary technology to purify fuel at par with the latest standards,” says Dawar Butt, who specialises in air pollution monitoring and advocacy.

He further says, “To produce fuel at par with international standards, we should either start using imported fuel or upgradeour refineries.”

The existing refineries in Pakistan operate on a basic level. As per Pakistan standards, the refineries are required to produce Pak-2 standard, which overlaps with Euro 1 and Euro 2. The difference between Euro-2 and Pak-2 is that Euro 2 is 500 ppm (parts per million) whereas Pak-2 is 400-800 ppm.

“Desulphurisation - the process of removing sulfur, can help produce Euro 3 and Euro 4 standard fuel but the refineries in Pakistan do not have the necessary technology.” Butt further says, “Even if Euro 3 or Euro 4 standard fuel can be produced by the local refineries, unless the government makes it mandatory for the refineries to produce better quality fuel, they wouldn’t do it.”

However, upgrading the refineries can be a daunting task. Dawar Butt feels that the refineries are resisting any move that involves an upgrade. “During Senate’s coordination meetings,whenever the discussion cameround to upgrading of oil refineries, their representatives started blaming auto manufacturers for making sub-standard engines that according to them lead to air pollution.”

In 2017, Honda Atlas Cars filed a complaint (https://www.dawn.com/news/1367960/shell-total-pso-fuel-harms-engines-honda) to Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) that the oil refineries are adding manganese to the fuel to make it appear to be of the desired standard but in reality it affects public health due to emissions and damages the engines of their vehicles. The addition of manganese elevates the Research Octane Number (RON).(RON 92 corresponds with Pak-2 standard.)

“This shows that all of the refineries are outdated,” says Butt.

He further says, “Besides producing high-sulfur diesel oil, the refineries have also been reported forraising RON for gasoline using high amounts of manganese, which means that the so-called cleaner fuel is possibly causing the formation of harmful compounds. Low quality fuel damages engines, which means engine efficiency is reduced and causes more incomplete combustion, leading to more pollution.”

This is “bad for the environment and public health, and may force consumers to spendexcessively on engine oil changes and other maintenance costs. New vehicles are now coming with Euro 4 emission standard engines, but without cleaner fuel the actual particulate emissions will not be reduced,” he adds.

Parco is the only oil refinery in Pakistan that can produce Euro 4 standard fuel. But since it is not required by the government to do so, it is not producing it.

Across the world, countries are settinghigher fuel standards. India has Euro 6 standard in-place, whereas in the UK Euro 5 and Euro 6 standardsare being implemented. Pakistan’s brother in arms, China, has Euro 5 standard. Pakistanis still persisting with Pak-2 - a fuel standard from the ’90s.

“Importing Euro 6 fuel is reasonable for Pakistan.It will cost approximately $1 per barrel,”says Butt.

Pakistan has 4 refineries namely NRL, BRL, ARL, BYCO 1 and 2. Butt says that Pakistan is also importing Euro 2 standard fuel from Kuwait but that won’t continue for long. According to him, “Kuwait has said that it plans to stop the production of Euro 2 standard fuel on account of its low demand around the world.”

“The cost of upgrading an oil refinery is approximately $1 billion. No refinery can afford an upgrade. Using Euro 6 standard imported fuel may be a suitable option,” says Rafay Alam, an environmental lawyer.

Alam believes that the government isn’t interested in shifting to cleaner fuels. “There is absolutely no political will or money for this,” he says.

Alam saysthe Euro 2 standard is met in a deceitful way in Pakistan. “In Euro 2 standard,RON is 92. In Pakistan, manganeseis added to the fuel to meet the RON standard.”

Last November when the smog crisis was at its peak, Prime Minister Imran Khansaid that only fuel meeting Euro 4 standard will be imported, and that by the end of 2020 Euro 5 standard fuel will be imported. The prime minister also said that the oil refineries would be given a three year deadline to improve the fuel quality. Or else, they would be shut down.

Alam says, “It (the statement by PM Khan) was meant to appease the civil society, which at that time was lambasting the government for insufficient measures to tackle smog. None of PM Khan’s promises have yielded results so far.Euro 2 standard fuel is still being produced by the oil refineries. The government has so far not imported Euro 4 standard fuel.”

“It seems that since there is no money for upgrading the refineries, the government has decided to improve the air quality by coming up with theElectric Vehicle (EV) policy,” he believes.

The EV policy aims to replace the current fleet of fossil fuel driven vehicles with electric vehicles. For cars, the EV policy aims to achieve 30 per cent of new sales by 2030 and 90 per cent of new sales by 2040.

The EV policy was approved by the federal cabinet in December 2019. In a surprising move,it was challenged by the Ministry of Industries and Production, citing thatthey weren’t engaged in the policy formulation.

Alam thinks the Ministry of Industries and Production was initially opposed to the EV policy, as it would result infewer jobs.

Irfan Tariq, a former director general of the Ministry of Climate Change, who played a lead role in the formulation and subsequent approval of the EV policy, is of the view that cleaner fuels and environmentally friendly technologies are the way forward for Pakistan.

Irfan Tariqsays that the Ministry of Climate Change still supports the EV policy. According to him, “The approval of EV policy was a collective decision aimed at fighting climate change and air pollution.

“The Ministry of Climate Change supports the adoption of Euro 3 or Euro 4 standard fuels,” he says.

Tariq says, “The cabinet has approved the EV policy and directed that in one month the incentive package for the policy should be approved by the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC).”

The Ministry of Industries and Production had earlier objected to the EV policy saying it should be appended to its Automobile DevelopmentPolicy (2016-21).

Tariq says, “The EV policies are being made across the world because climate change is wreaking havoc on our lives. The EV policy should be a climate change initiative. Climate change is the reason why electric vehicles are on the road.” He adds, “The Ministry of Climate Change can secure climate finance for the implementation of the policy.”

Restrictions imposed to mitigate the spread of Covid-19 have reduced air pollution levels in the urban centres across the country.Once the business and transport sectors become fully operational, the public will again start reeling from the impacts of air pollution.The government must introduce Euro 3 or Euro 4 standard fuels, and strive to introduce Euro 5 and Euro 6 standard fuels as soon as possible.

The writer is a 2018 Chevening Scholar with a masters in international journalism from Cardiff University. He is the recipient of 2019 Environmental Journalist award and 2015 Young Environmental Journalist award by Singapore Environment Council (SEC). He tweets @SyedMAbubakar and can be reached via s.m.abubakar@hotmail.com