Due to its dedication to clean air standards, neighbouring emirate Abu Dhabi presented steps targeted at minimising the harmful emissions from traffic in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) capital during last week’s UN meetings on air and water quality in Dubai.
A specialist in air quality and pollution with the Abu-Dhabi Environment Agency (EAD), Mira Mohammad Khalid Harara disclosed during the ‘Cleaner Air in Abu-Dhabi’ panel discussion at the COP28 UAE Pavilion, held in the capital of the United Arab Emirates, that emissions from approximately 34 people are a result of Abu-Dhabi’s transport. Transportation was responsible for almost 17% of nitrogen oxide emissions and over 17% of particulate matter emissions, primarily from buses and taxis.
“We have chosen to investigate technologies that can expand our comprehension of what is occurring, which can greatly help in raising our awareness,” Harara said. As an environmental organisation, we always look for the best answers and are aware of environmental regulations when it comes to observation.”
Using remote sensing technology, Abu Dhabi is measuring the quality of the air on its highways in order to determine the highest-polluting automobiles and assess air regulations.
The study included 15 different capital locations, and over the course of 15 dates, 83,000 useful data points from air measurements were collected. Licence plate records and emission data were used to validate the measurements.
“We concentrated on Light Duty Vehicles (LDVs) since they made up the majority [of vehicles] on the roads,” Harara clarified. We found that private automobiles make up 80% of Abu Dhabi’s marine fleet, followed by taxis (16%) and public buses (4%).
“We wanted to see how different types of fuels – diesel, petrol, petrol, gas, natural gas and electric hybrids – performed in terms of fuel efficiency concerning the average lifespan of vehicles.”
84% of the taxis that were examined were Toyota Camrys, and it was shown that these cars were more accountable for NOx (nitrogen oxide) emissions than other models, accounting for more than half of the emissions from models made before 2018. Among the four categories of vehicle types, diesel LDVs were the oldest and produced the highest emissions; in contrast, gas-powered cars and public LDVs compared to their private counterparts, released more NOx pollutants.
