Heavy vehicles carry excessive PM2.5 footprint, government study says | Today’s news

New Delhi: Heavy trucks and buses account for only 2.5-3% of vehicles on Indian roads, but account for about 35-36% of traffic-related particulate matter (PM2.5) emissions, according to a study by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH). The findings strengthen the case for stricter emissions norms and faster fleet modernization, both of which are key to the government’s proposed BS VII framework.

Transport emissions include pollutants such as carbon monoxide (CO), hydrocarbons (HC), nitrogen oxides (NOx) and particulate matter. However, experts say the greatest risk to public health is fine particulate matter (PM2.5), as it can penetrate deep into the lungs and bloodstream.

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“According to our study, heavy trucks account for only about 2.5-3% of our vehicle power. But if we look at the real problem of pollutants – PM2.5 – the share of trucks and buses is disproportionately high, which is almost a third, probably 35-36%,” said Mahmood Ahmed, additional secretary, MoRTH at the event.

India has recorded sales of 7.36 million buses and trucks so far, the government’s vehicle registration panel Vahan showed.

Diesel-powered trucks and buses produce significantly higher levels of particulate matter than most passenger vehicles due to their larger engines, higher loads and longer operating hours. Studies consistently show that heavy-duty diesel vehicles are among the largest contributors to transport-related PM2.5 emissions, despite their relatively small share of the total vehicle population.

The findings reinforce the need for targeted interventions, including faster fleet modernization, stricter emission standards, adoption of cleaner fuels, diesel particulate filters (DPFs) and accelerated electrification of commercial vehicles, Ahmed said.

He added that the government is working on various strategies, including the BS VII framework, to reduce emissions. “We are evaluating individual categories of vehicles and specific pollutants as part of the BS VII framework. Our focus is not only on tightening emission limits but also on improving testing methods to ensure they better reflect actual driving conditions,” the official said.

The government is also pursuing a technology-neutral strategy to reduce transport emissions, promoting electric vehicles (EVs), flex-fuel engines and green hydrogen, while accelerating fleet modernization through voluntary incentives rather than blanket bans.

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Holistic approach

The government “doesn’t put everything in one basket,” the official said, adding that consumers should ultimately determine which technology succeeds, while the ministry’s role is merely to create an enabling regulatory framework for all clean mobility options.

“We are aware that there are still a few gaps left in this, so we are starting to work again with the scrap policy, the modernization of the fleet. We realize that the fleet itself needs to be modernized and the road is not a punitive measure, it is not a dictate that from a certain day or date these vehicles will not go, or from a certain day a certain category of vehicles will be denied.”

The ministry is also tightening pollution control measures by overhauling the Pollution Under Control (PUC) regime. Proposed reforms include geo-tagging vehicles during testing, encrypting emissions data, eliminating manual data entry and redesigning testing equipment to reduce fraudulent certification.

Evidence and solution

According to a report by The Air Pollution Action Group (A-PAG) in collaboration with IIT Delhi and The Energy and Resources Institute (Teri), the transport sector contributes about 18-24% to PM2.5 concentrations in Delhi. Within this, trucks – especially heavy trucks – have a disproportionate share of emissions due to their use of diesel, aging fleet profiles and high traffic intensity, says the report Towards Cleaner Trucking in Delhi: An Assessment of Interstate Truck Emissions and Mitigation Strategies.

Delhi’s status as a major logistics hub with significant interstate truck traffic on a daily basis further compounds this challenge. Despite numerous policy measures that have been put in place over the years, the absence of reliable, detailed data continues to limit effective intervention.

“For the first time, we have a detailed and true picture of the interstate movement of trucks in Delhi. Importantly, the report goes beyond diagnostics to identify where interventions can be most effective, which vehicles to prioritize and what impact different measures can have. This provides a strong evidence base for targeted action at scale,” said Kritika Choudhary, Head of Strategy at A-PAG.

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The report states that around 16,900 heavy goods vehicles enter Delhi every day and characterizes their composition and traffic patterns. Key findings include: HDVs (heavy goods vehicles) account for 23% of total daily transport emissions and their share increases significantly to 61% during the early morning and night hours. It also identifies four toll plazas — Kundli, Rajokri, Badarpur and Tikri — that could affect more than 50% of all truck entries into the city.

The report outlines seven mitigation strategies with timelines and quantified impact. For example, a mere ban on pre-BS-VI trucks by 2027 could reduce PM2.5 emissions from interstate trucks by 51%. Recommended strategies include, but are not limited to, the optimization of empty backbone links and the transition to electric trucks.