VZCZCXRO8089
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 
 
 
¶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