Dr Muhammad Zaman
IMPOSITION of carbon tax is getting momentum among various nations of the world to mitigate the climate change challenger and promote best public health. About one fourth of the nation follows the carbon tax policy. This policy may lead to the conservation of nature on one hand. The carbon tax may reduce the public health vulnerabilities on the other hand. Carbon emissions produced by the vehicles in urban centres is one of the examples of Pakistan. According to WHO, in 2018 the total number of registered vehicles in Pakistan were 183,52500, with two-three wheels 135,38200 and 4-wheels cars/light vehicles were 2835400. This number may have increased manifolds in 2020. It is estimated the number will cross 3 million vehicles in 2025. Meanwhile, a huge number of motorcycles is being added every day. Although the motorcycle is a common man’s vehicle and mode of transportation, yet it is becoming one of the big sources of environmental pollution and contributor of the road accidents and leading cause of deaths in Pakistan. Owing to the unavailability of the public green and clean transportation, we have a huge influx of motorcycle and private vehicles adding millions of ton carbon emission into the environment. Every year, the country is victim of human causalities (27582 per year as per 2018 WHO estimates) and about 50000 human injuries and disabilities beside the huge volume of carbon poisons.
With the excessive discharge of the carbon emission, a common man is victim of the breathing, respiratory, lungs, asthma and heart problems due to the carbon discharge in the air. It is hard to breath in the air in the metropolitan cities of Pakistan during the early winter. For a couple of years, the smog shut down the economic, social and educational activities in Lahore and other similar parts of the country due to the huge level of smog. People are becoming the victim of the novel and entrenching diseases due to the environmental degradation. Nevertheless, nobody realized and imagined solving this problem. Critics may argue that the industrial wastage and agricultural residues burning may be the large cause of the carbon emission and smog in Pakistan. Solid waste burning could be another big reason of the environmental contamination. These critics may be true, but the industrial activities are continuously on decline in Pakistan. Agricultural residues may have role to enhance the smoke and chemicals in the air. However, farmers may be sensitized to reuse the agricultural wastage and produce economic activities from those residues. Similarly, the solid waste can be managed with 3Rs policy (reduce, recycle and reuse). Even if the people are unable to understand the problem, some rewards and sanctions mechanism should be evolved to manage the solid waste and industrial and agricultural wastage in order to mitigate the issue and promote best practices of the environmental conservation.
Meanwhile, the State must impose carbon emission tax to reduce the environmental pollutants and reduce the volume of the carbon usage. Especially, on the consumption of petrol, diesels and gas products the tax may be employed. This will not only generate additional revenue that can be used to launch and promote smart and clean public transportation, but it can also reduce the number of vehicles on the road and thereby reduction in the carbon emission. It is also important to discourage the people to use a vehicle for a single person. For instance, in Germany several websites are used to travel with other passengers from one city to another by thinking that the driver can save travel cost, but it can also reduce the carbon in the air. A person travelling from Lahore to Islamabad in his car may add 3-4 other persons and he can save fuel price by taking fare while passengers can have reduced fare with comfort and company. Ultimately, there is reduction of the carbon emission with the usage of a single car for 3-4 persons or with the public transport as compared to the private vehicle. Those who wanted to travel alone may have to pay the carbon costs. With this kind of travelling we may have to think about the security of everyone by employing virtual surveillance.
Additionally, Motor Vehicle Ordinance 1965 is an outdated legislation and it must be updated in capital Federal as well as in the Provinces. We should have updated legislation for the manufacturers as well as importers. Clean and green technologies may be adopted with the less usage of the carbon through updated legislation. It is right step that the Government of Pakistan has adopted the electrical vehicle policy. Federal Government may be appreciated as they did excellent efforts to put forward this policy. However, we need more efforts to impose the carbon emission tax as well and serious policy interventions to save the nature and natural resources with efficient use. In any case rules may be imposed on the old vehicles too. They are big contributors of the hazardous chemicals in the environment. Government of Pakistan should introduce the policy to upgrade the old vehicles with latest engine technology on subsidize prices so that the common man can have not a huge burden as paying capacity is decreasing in Pakistan. Carbon tax would be a step to reduce the fuel. It would save the nature. If we will not save the nature, we will become the victim of the natural disaster. With nature conservation, we can give a better future to our generations.
—The writer is Chairman, Department of Sociology at Quaid-i-Azam University Islamabad.
