Environmental Justice

Environmental Justice
Robert Doyle Bullard is acclaimed as the 'father of
Environmental Justice’ concept. He has been recognised as a
leading campaigner against environmental racism and on the
Environmental Justice Movement in the US in the 1980s.
In 1990, he published the first text book on Environmental
Justice known as “Dumping in Dixie”. In it he observes that, “All
Americans, white or black, rich or poor, are entitled to equal
protection under the law. Just as this is true for such areas as
education, employment and housing, it also applies to one’s
physical environment. Environmental discrimination is a fact of
life”
 Environmental Justice
According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA),
environmental justice seeks the equitable treatment and
involvement of people of all races, cultures, incomes, and
educational levels in the development, implementation, and
enforcement of environmental programs, laws, rules, and
policies.
Therefore, the concept of environmental justice as a term with a
more political connotation implies justice on a distributive,
procedural, and precautionary level.
Distributive justice requires an equitable distribution of the costs
of environmental risks and of the benefits of environmental
values across the demographic and geographic scales.
 Environmental Justice
With recent distributional challenges of globalization,
urbanization, and environmental degradation (e.g., ozone
depletion, water security, declining biodiversity, and
deforestation) as well as climate change, the environmental
justice concept has moved toward a broader understanding,
now including generational and international environmental
justice.
Generational environmental justice refers to the concept of
sustainability (including global ecological integrity and global
environmental justice) and the responsibility of current
generations to ensure a healthy and safe environment for future
generations.
 Environmental Justice
It implies avoiding environmental degradation, which brings
injustice on future generations for the sake of short-term
economic gains in the present.
As more environmental resources become ever scarcer, the
increasing burden in hazardous environmental conditions imposed
by more affluent countries on developing countries touches on an
important issue of international environmental justice.
Therefore, the concept of environmental justice has been taken up
by many countries.
It gained momentum not only in US but also in South Africa, UK
and other countries.
 Environmental Justice
The most important development in the administration of
environmental justice outside US is the Convention on Access to
Information, Public Participation in Decision Making and Access to
Justice in Environmental Matters held at Aarhus, Denmark on 25th
June 1998 which is popularly known as Aarhus Convention.
The concept got recognition in India, especially, after the Bhopal
tragedy. It mainly focuses on the distributive justice and fair
treatment of all stake holders in the protection of the
environment. Procedural and corrective justice also plays a vital
role in achieving environmental justice.
The administration of environmental justice in India derived its
genes from these developments in US and international arena.
 Environmental Justice

Group Activity:

Discuss the Regulatory Norms Propagating Environmental

Justice

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coDvwMWVgX0
Euro Norms for Emission Control
 Euro Norms for Emission Control
Euro norms refer to the permissible emission levels, for both petrol
and diesel vehicles, which have been implemented in Europe.
However, the government in India has adopted the Euro norms for
available fuel quality and the methods method of testing. It
requires manufacturers to reduce the existing polluting emission
levels in a more efficient manner by making certain technical
changes in their vehicles.
European emission standards define the acceptable limits for
exhaust emissions of new vehicles sold in the European Union and
European Economic Area (EEA) member states.
The emission standards are defined in a series of European Union
directives staging the progressive introduction of increasingly
stringent standards.
 Euro Norms for Emission Control
Euro emission standards define the limits of exhaust emissions
from almost all type of vehicles such as cars, two wheelers, heavy
vehicles, etc. Euro emission standards were first introduced in
1992 in EU and till now six stages of EURO standards have been
implemented.
The “Euro standards” regulate emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx),
hydrocarbons (HC), carbon monoxide (CO), particulate matter
(PM), and particle numbers (PN) by technological upgradation of
vehicles as well as of fuel. There are separate regulations for light
vehicles (fewer than 3.5 tones) and heavy-duty vehicles.
Whether our car is a Euro 6 diesel or a Euro 1 petrol, knowing the
car's rating is very important due to increasing number of fines
being introduced for older cars, especially diesel cars.
 Euro 7
European Commission has acknowledged that the new emission
standards will be the last rules for conventional vehicles before
moving to zero-and low emission alternatives, so that we can
ensure a healthy, green recovery from the COVID-19 epidemic and
tackle the climate crisis effectively.
This is the beginning of the end: the European Commission is now
in the process of reviewing the existing rules for vehicle emission
standards and as core part of the European Green Deal, new
emission standards are needed to fix the allowed pollution levels
from vehicles. While reviewing the existing rules, new regulation is
needed before phasing out the internal combustion engine, a
move necessary to achieve 2030 Climate targets. These new EURO
7 standards will be the final ones.
 Euro 7
In addition to these new tests, it’s been widely believed within the
motoring world that the EU is planning to introduce a new Euro 7
emissions standard in the coming years.
However, in April 2019 the European Parliament and Council
adopted new regulations setting CO2 emission performance
standards for new passenger cars and vans which would start
applying from 1 January 2020.
Unlike the previous Euro emissions standards, this regulation
focuses solely on carbon emissions of new cars and vans, and
includes a mechanism to incentivise the uptake of zero-emission
vehicles.
 Emission Standards for India
India has introduced its first emission standards in 1991 but India’s
first emission standards equivalent to EURO I (called BS I) has been
implemented in 2000 in limited cities after SC ruling in 1999 to
implement EURO I by 2000.
In 2003, BS II was adopted in 13 cities and adopted nationwide by
2005.
First National Auto Fuel Policy was adopted in 2003 on
recommendation of Mashelkar committee (2002).
Auto Fuel Policy (2003) was implemented in 2005 and BS III
introduced in 13 major cities of India and put into practice in entire
nation by 2010.
 Emission Standards for India
In 2012 Saumitra Committee was formed to draft Auto Fuel Policy
2025. As per Saumitra Committee recommendations, entire
country has to be covered with Euro IV or BS IV emission standards
by 2014. But till now Euro IV is applicable in 13 major cities only
and Euro III in rest of the nation. Now the BS IV is to be
implemented by 2017 in entire country in phased manner.

Further Saumitra committee recommended to implement BS V

and BS VI in entire nation by 2022 and 2024, respectively. But
recently government decided to skip Euro V and directly jump to
Euro VI (BS VI) standards by 1 April 2020.
 Euro Norms for Emission Control
Govt to implement global emission standards and safety
measures in transport vehicles …….Business World, 12th
September,2020.
New Delhi [India], September 12 (ANI): With an aim to
implement international standards of emission and safety
measures in transport vehicles, the government is looking for a
regulatory road map for the automobile industry, the press
release issued by Ministry of Road Transport and Highways said
on Saturday.
The plans are to bring Indian automotive industry at par with
developed nations in such regulations.
 Euro Norms for Emission Control
"The Government has embarked upon a transformational
programme of implementing international standards of emission and
safety measures in the transport vehicles. As such government is
moving on the path of a long-term regulatory road map for the
automobile industry to grow and increase its contribution to GDP.
There are plans to bring Indian automotive industry at par with
developed nations in such regulations," the release said.
Observing that the Indian automotive industry has undergone a
number of changes, it added, "The Indian automotive industry has
kept pace with these changes and in recent years has undergone a
number of changes in the domain of passenger safety, emission
control and connected technology. One such highlight is leapfrogging
from BS-IV to BS-VI emission norms and hence achieving parity with
Euro emission norms."
 Euro Norms for Emission Control
The release added that the ministry has notified several regulations
for upgrading emission and safety features in Indian automobiles,
which include - draft notifications for anti-lock braking systems,
airbags, speed alert systems, reverse parking assist, crash standards,
etc.
"The Ministry is in the process of finalisation of implementation of
standards for electronic stability control systems (ESC) and brake
assist systems for relevant categories by next two years. The
notification of ESC for buses has been issued last year," the release
added.
It further said, "Draft notification has also been issued for electronic
stability control systems for buses, which is likely to be brought into
force by April 2023. We are contemplating a higher level of safety for
all categories of vehicles." (ANI)
 Euro Norms for Emission Control
Explain the need and significance of execution of Euro
norms in India.
Discuss the problems that can be encountered in the
process of the actual implementation of the norms with
special reference to Euro 7
 References

1. Dr. Bala Krishnamoorthy. Environmental Management. Prentice Hall – 2003

2. N. K. Uberoi. Environmental Management. Excel Books – 2nd Ed.
3. Nagpal, Shantnu. “Environment Science”, Vipul Prakashan, FYBCom (Financial Market),
Edition 2015.
4. Nagpal, “Environment Management”, Thakur Publishers, FYBMS (Semester II), Edition 2014.
5. https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/environmental-justice
Thank You

- Dr. Parveen Kaur Nagpal