Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06AMMAN4297
2006-06-14 05:21:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Amman
Cable title:
"Get the Lead Out! Sulfur, Too" - Middle East Clean Fuels
how-toVZCZCXRO8089 RR RUEHHM RUEHLN RUEHMA RUEHPB DE RUEHAM #4297/01 1650521 ZNR UUUUU ZZH R 140521Z JUN 06 ZDK FM AMEMBASSY AMMAN TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1257 INFO RUEAEPA/HQ EPA WASHDC RUEHZN/ENVIRONMENT SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY COLLECTIVE RUEHXK/ARAB ISRAELI COLLECTIVE
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 004297
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
EPA for OIA/Medearis, Buckley
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: SENV TBIO ENRG XF EG
SUBJECT: "Get the Lead Out! Sulfur, Too" - Middle East Clean Fuels
Meeting
AMMAN 00004297 001.3 OF 002
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 004297
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
EPA for OIA/Medearis, Buckley
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: SENV TBIO ENRG XF EG
SUBJECT: "Get the Lead Out! Sulfur, Too" - Middle East Clean Fuels
Meeting
AMMAN 00004297 001.3 OF 002
1. Summary: Fifty participants in the Partnership for Clean Fuels
and Vehicles met in Cairo May 24-25. Stakeholders discussed plans
to eliminate the use of leaded gasoline, and to promote low sulfur
gasoline and diesel in the Middle East and North Africa. Studies
from the United States show that health savings from clean fuels are
on the order of 15 times the cost. Clean fuels mean fewer harmful
emissions and allow more effective use of catalytic converters. End
summary.
--------------
Background: US Started Process in 1970's
--------------
2. There has been a worldwide effort for years to eliminate the use
of leaded gasoline, starting with the United States in the 1970's.
The concepts and technology have gradually spread around the world.
U.S. EPA and environmental agencies in other countries have created
ever stricter standards for fuels and for vehicle emissions as an
important part of reducing air pollution.
3. The UN Partnership for Clean Fuels and Vehicles
(www.unep.org/pcfv) was created during the 2002 Johannesburg World
Summit on Sustainable Development and is managed out of UNEP's
Nairobi headquarters. Since its inception, the Partnership has
spearheaded a drive to eliminate leaded fuels, and appears headed
for near-total success. All of sub-Saharan Africa went lead-free in
January 2006.
4. The Partnership is notable for its pinpoint focus on clean fuels
and technologies for existing on-road vehicles. During the Cairo
meeting, the Partnership's managers relentlessly hauled discussion
back to the here-and-now when participants started to get excited
about next-generation technologies. In Cairo, the discussion
centered on gasoline and diesel; there was relatively little
discussion of ethanol, biodiesel and natural gas. As a result, the
Partnership has been able to show clear results in its chosen area
of focus.
-------------- --
Vehicles Cause Up to 90% of Urban Air Pollution
-------------- --
5. With up to 70-90% of urban air pollution coming from "mobile
sources" (cars, trucks, buses),demand for transportation rising,
and increasing urbanization around the globe, the problem of urban
air pollution from vehicles is severe and increasing. Dr. Kathleen
Abdalla from the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs said
that air pollution can cost 2% of GDP per year through increased
health costs and lower labor productivity. Air pollution can hurt
human health, natural resources, agriculture, infrastructure and
cultural artifacts such as outdoor sculptures and monuments.
-------------- --------------
Yemen and Jordan Among Few Countries Selling Leaded Gas
-------------- --------------
6. Worldwide, there remain only a few nations selling leaded
gasoline. In the NEA region, the leaded rogues' gallery includes
Yemen, Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria and Jordan. More than 95% of
Egypt's gas is unleaded according to one participant from Egypt, but
there is still an area where leaded gasoline is sold. The Gulf
states of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates
and Oman went to unleaded gas in 2002. Syria went lead-free in
early 2006. Israel has been using unleaded gas for many years.
Libya and Lebanon have been lead-free since 2003. Even Iran, not
usually noted as an environmental leader, uses only unleaded gas,
and is working to promote the use of natural gas in vehicles to
reduce the heavy air pollution in its cities.
--------------
Unleaded Gas is More Expensive than Leaded
--------------
7. Some countries go lead-free with relative ease, others take
longer. A lack of infrastructure can actually ease the transition
to unleaded, since once the decision is made to go unleaded, the
country simply buys unleaded gasoline instead of leaded. Countries
with refineries face more complex issues such as the potential lost
of jobs from closing outdated refineries or coming up with capital
to convert refineries. Also, unleaded gas is more expensive to
refine than leaded gas. Without subsidies or tax incentives,
unleaded is more expensive than leaded gasoline at the pump. This
gives consumers a disincentive to use unleaded if they have a choice
and if pump prices are set by the market.
--------------
Low Lead and Low Sulfur Mean Fewer Emissions
--------------
AMMAN 00004297 002 OF 002
8. The benefits from eliminating lead and reducing sulfur are
two-fold. Lead is documented to impair mental development and has
other negative health effects. Sulfur in fuels creates noxious
sulfur oxides. Lead and sulfur compounds are dangerous pollutants
in their own right, and also destroy the capabilities of catalytic
converters that can reduce other harmful car emissions by up to 90%.
9. Cleaning up fuels themselves has several positive impacts on air
pollution. First and foremost, raising fuel quality immediately
lowers emissions from the entire transportation fleet. This is a
significant benefit in areas with lots of older cars, such as
Morocco, Lebanon and Syria where 50% or more of the car fleet is 10
years old or older. While improvements in car-based anti-pollution
equipment are important, they take effect only gradually over the
course of years, even in affluent countries, as new vehicles replace
older vehicles. Clean fuels also enable existing and planned
emissions control technologies to operate at peak effectiveness,
reducing emissions across a wide spectrum of pollutants.
--------------
Benefit/Cost Ratio for Clean Fuels is 15 to 1
--------------
10. The quantifiable benefits from clean air tend to be found in
lower health care costs and in work days not lost to sickness. This
reinforces the environment-health linkage that is one of the
fundamental partnerships in the environmental movement. A former
EPA fuels specialist and now a leading international consultant
quoted U.S. studies that show a benefit/cost ratio for clean fuels
on the order of 15/1. The ratio measures only hard dollars, and
does not include softer measures and positive externalities such as
better views and visibility.
--------------
Clean Diesel Technology Now Available
--------------
11. While unleaded fuels and catalytic converters for gasoline
engines are, relatively speaking, a known quantity and widely
understood, clean diesel technologies have only recently arrived to
the market. But they have arrived. (See www.epa.gov/cleandiesel.)
Modern diesels, which require low sulfur fuel, not only have
catalytic converters but also have particulate filters that trap and
burn off more than 90% of the sooty black particles familiar to
anyone who has driven behind a bus. In Europe, most new diesel cars
sold today have particulate filters.
12. During the Cairo meeting, EPA presented results from a pilot
project in Mexico City to retrofit twenty existing city buses with
1) low sulfur fuel, 2) diesel oxidation catalysts (on older buses),
and 3) diesel particulate filters (on newer buses). Particulate
emissions were reduced up to 44% on the older buses, and a
staggering 92% on the newer buses. Ultrafine particulates were
reduced up to 95%. Ultrafine particulates are felt to be a health
hazard at any level, since fine particles can be inhaled deep into
the alveoli of the lungs and can be absorbed into the bloodstream.
--------------
Sulfur - The Lead of the 21st Century
--------------
13. The countries of North Africa and the Middle East - except
Israel - have a particularly severe problem with "sour" or
high-sulfur diesel. Europe, Japan and the United States currently
have standards at 50 ppm (parts per million) or lower, and are
inexorably moving towards single digit levels. Japan is already
selling diesel with 10 ppm of sulfur, several European countries are
introducing diesel with 10 ppm sulfur, and the United States is
introducing diesel with 15 ppm sulfur in June 2006. Several
countries in the Middle East and North Africa region (including
Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, Oman, Syria and Iraq) have sulfur
levels in diesel of 2,000 ppm, and as high as 10,000 ppm. The
Partnership for Clean Fuels and Vehicles is working with countries
around the world to promote global use of diesel fuel with 50 ppm or
less of sulfur.
14. Comment: UNEP's Partnership for Clean Fuels and Vehicles can
save lives with its quite modest funding. The Partnership is
actively seeking new members from governments, businesses and NGO's
around the world.
15. Embassy Cairo and EPA have cleared this cable.
RUBINSTEIN
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
EPA for OIA/Medearis, Buckley
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: SENV TBIO ENRG XF EG
SUBJECT: "Get the Lead Out! Sulfur, Too" - Middle East Clean Fuels
Meeting
AMMAN 00004297 001.3 OF 002
1. Summary: Fifty participants in the Partnership for Clean Fuels
and Vehicles met in Cairo May 24-25. Stakeholders discussed plans
to eliminate the use of leaded gasoline, and to promote low sulfur
gasoline and diesel in the Middle East and North Africa. Studies
from the United States show that health savings from clean fuels are
on the order of 15 times the cost. Clean fuels mean fewer harmful
emissions and allow more effective use of catalytic converters. End
summary.
--------------
Background: US Started Process in 1970's
--------------
2. There has been a worldwide effort for years to eliminate the use
of leaded gasoline, starting with the United States in the 1970's.
The concepts and technology have gradually spread around the world.
U.S. EPA and environmental agencies in other countries have created
ever stricter standards for fuels and for vehicle emissions as an
important part of reducing air pollution.
3. The UN Partnership for Clean Fuels and Vehicles
(www.unep.org/pcfv) was created during the 2002 Johannesburg World
Summit on Sustainable Development and is managed out of UNEP's
Nairobi headquarters. Since its inception, the Partnership has
spearheaded a drive to eliminate leaded fuels, and appears headed
for near-total success. All of sub-Saharan Africa went lead-free in
January 2006.
4. The Partnership is notable for its pinpoint focus on clean fuels
and technologies for existing on-road vehicles. During the Cairo
meeting, the Partnership's managers relentlessly hauled discussion
back to the here-and-now when participants started to get excited
about next-generation technologies. In Cairo, the discussion
centered on gasoline and diesel; there was relatively little
discussion of ethanol, biodiesel and natural gas. As a result, the
Partnership has been able to show clear results in its chosen area
of focus.
-------------- --
Vehicles Cause Up to 90% of Urban Air Pollution
-------------- --
5. With up to 70-90% of urban air pollution coming from "mobile
sources" (cars, trucks, buses),demand for transportation rising,
and increasing urbanization around the globe, the problem of urban
air pollution from vehicles is severe and increasing. Dr. Kathleen
Abdalla from the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs said
that air pollution can cost 2% of GDP per year through increased
health costs and lower labor productivity. Air pollution can hurt
human health, natural resources, agriculture, infrastructure and
cultural artifacts such as outdoor sculptures and monuments.
-------------- --------------
Yemen and Jordan Among Few Countries Selling Leaded Gas
-------------- --------------
6. Worldwide, there remain only a few nations selling leaded
gasoline. In the NEA region, the leaded rogues' gallery includes
Yemen, Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria and Jordan. More than 95% of
Egypt's gas is unleaded according to one participant from Egypt, but
there is still an area where leaded gasoline is sold. The Gulf
states of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates
and Oman went to unleaded gas in 2002. Syria went lead-free in
early 2006. Israel has been using unleaded gas for many years.
Libya and Lebanon have been lead-free since 2003. Even Iran, not
usually noted as an environmental leader, uses only unleaded gas,
and is working to promote the use of natural gas in vehicles to
reduce the heavy air pollution in its cities.
--------------
Unleaded Gas is More Expensive than Leaded
--------------
7. Some countries go lead-free with relative ease, others take
longer. A lack of infrastructure can actually ease the transition
to unleaded, since once the decision is made to go unleaded, the
country simply buys unleaded gasoline instead of leaded. Countries
with refineries face more complex issues such as the potential lost
of jobs from closing outdated refineries or coming up with capital
to convert refineries. Also, unleaded gas is more expensive to
refine than leaded gas. Without subsidies or tax incentives,
unleaded is more expensive than leaded gasoline at the pump. This
gives consumers a disincentive to use unleaded if they have a choice
and if pump prices are set by the market.
--------------
Low Lead and Low Sulfur Mean Fewer Emissions
--------------
AMMAN 00004297 002 OF 002
8. The benefits from eliminating lead and reducing sulfur are
two-fold. Lead is documented to impair mental development and has
other negative health effects. Sulfur in fuels creates noxious
sulfur oxides. Lead and sulfur compounds are dangerous pollutants
in their own right, and also destroy the capabilities of catalytic
converters that can reduce other harmful car emissions by up to 90%.
9. Cleaning up fuels themselves has several positive impacts on air
pollution. First and foremost, raising fuel quality immediately
lowers emissions from the entire transportation fleet. This is a
significant benefit in areas with lots of older cars, such as
Morocco, Lebanon and Syria where 50% or more of the car fleet is 10
years old or older. While improvements in car-based anti-pollution
equipment are important, they take effect only gradually over the
course of years, even in affluent countries, as new vehicles replace
older vehicles. Clean fuels also enable existing and planned
emissions control technologies to operate at peak effectiveness,
reducing emissions across a wide spectrum of pollutants.
--------------
Benefit/Cost Ratio for Clean Fuels is 15 to 1
--------------
10. The quantifiable benefits from clean air tend to be found in
lower health care costs and in work days not lost to sickness. This
reinforces the environment-health linkage that is one of the
fundamental partnerships in the environmental movement. A former
EPA fuels specialist and now a leading international consultant
quoted U.S. studies that show a benefit/cost ratio for clean fuels
on the order of 15/1. The ratio measures only hard dollars, and
does not include softer measures and positive externalities such as
better views and visibility.
--------------
Clean Diesel Technology Now Available
--------------
11. While unleaded fuels and catalytic converters for gasoline
engines are, relatively speaking, a known quantity and widely
understood, clean diesel technologies have only recently arrived to
the market. But they have arrived. (See www.epa.gov/cleandiesel.)
Modern diesels, which require low sulfur fuel, not only have
catalytic converters but also have particulate filters that trap and
burn off more than 90% of the sooty black particles familiar to
anyone who has driven behind a bus. In Europe, most new diesel cars
sold today have particulate filters.
12. During the Cairo meeting, EPA presented results from a pilot
project in Mexico City to retrofit twenty existing city buses with
1) low sulfur fuel, 2) diesel oxidation catalysts (on older buses),
and 3) diesel particulate filters (on newer buses). Particulate
emissions were reduced up to 44% on the older buses, and a
staggering 92% on the newer buses. Ultrafine particulates were
reduced up to 95%. Ultrafine particulates are felt to be a health
hazard at any level, since fine particles can be inhaled deep into
the alveoli of the lungs and can be absorbed into the bloodstream.
--------------
Sulfur - The Lead of the 21st Century
--------------
13. The countries of North Africa and the Middle East - except
Israel - have a particularly severe problem with "sour" or
high-sulfur diesel. Europe, Japan and the United States currently
have standards at 50 ppm (parts per million) or lower, and are
inexorably moving towards single digit levels. Japan is already
selling diesel with 10 ppm of sulfur, several European countries are
introducing diesel with 10 ppm sulfur, and the United States is
introducing diesel with 15 ppm sulfur in June 2006. Several
countries in the Middle East and North Africa region (including
Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, Oman, Syria and Iraq) have sulfur
levels in diesel of 2,000 ppm, and as high as 10,000 ppm. The
Partnership for Clean Fuels and Vehicles is working with countries
around the world to promote global use of diesel fuel with 50 ppm or
less of sulfur.
14. Comment: UNEP's Partnership for Clean Fuels and Vehicles can
save lives with its quite modest funding. The Partnership is
actively seeking new members from governments, businesses and NGO's
around the world.
15. Embassy Cairo and EPA have cleared this cable.
RUBINSTEIN