CCAC and ECI supporting Rwanda to develop vehicle emission standards

The Climate and Clean Air Coalition to Reduce Short-Lived Climate Pollutants (CCAC) is co-operating with the Environmental Compliance Institute (ECI) with respect to the project entitled “Revising and developing new air quality standards” in Rwanda. The project is providing expert assistance and technical support to the Government of Rwanda to develop new emission standards for internal combustion engines, including motor vehicle emission standards. CCAC’s support follows a request by Rwanda’s Ministry of Environment (MOE) for technical support to assist Rwanda Standards Board (RSB) to review and develop new air quality standards. It is upon these standards that enforcement activities against air pollution will be based and checked within the framework of Rwanda’s existing laws and regulations.

ECI has prepared a Rapid Situational Assessment Report  as part of this technical support. The objective of the assessment was to obtain a better understanding of Rwanda’s situation as relates to air pollution from different kinds of internal combustion engines; and current policy and regulatory frameworks and emission testing infrastructure, in order to recommend appropriate emission standards and limits that are applicable to Rwanda’s situation. Among the key finding and recommendations from the assemement include the following:

• Despite existing mandatory periodic emission testing for motor vehicles in Rwanda, there is no legally enforceable national standard in place against which the tests are carried out. Current target values for vehicle emissions are based on the manufacturer’s default settings in the test equipment. There is an urgent need to put in place a national standard and to re-calibrate the test equipment against the set national standard. The standards will apply to new vehicles (off-factory, whether imported or locally assembled) and separate standards for on-road vehicles (in-use, including imported used vehicles), depending on year of manufacture.
• Despite motor cycles being key contributors to overall transport related air pollution in Rwanda, especially in Kigali City, the current mandatory requirement for motor vehicle emissions testing does not cover motorcycles. In addition, the emission testing equipment in the country are few and may not cope with the large numbers of motor cycles in the country. In order to control the rising air pollution from motor cycles, it is recommended that the proposed new standards should include emission limits for motor cycles, and that regulations be put in place to require periodic emission testing for motor cycles. There will also be need to expand the emission testing and inspection facilities to provide dedicated lanes for motor cycles in order to cope with their large numbers in Rwanda.

ECI is working closely with RSB and the Ministry of Environment to prepare the vehicle emission standards. The standards are expected to be in place before end of 2018.