TRUE Initiative hosts second advisory board
TRUE Initiative has hosted it second Advisory Board, led by TRUE partners ICCT and FIA Foundation, and attended by 14 participants representing C40 Cities, FIA, Clean Air Fund, Transport and Environment, UN Environment Programme, Bruxelles Environnement, Polish Smog Alert, UN Environment Programme, NYC DOT, CSE, Bloomberg Philanthropies, University of Leeds and the Greater London Authority.
The meeting discussion highlighted some of the Initiative’s key accomplishments marking its fourth anniversary, including the continued expansion of real-world vehicle emissions databases, work with new cities, and the development of a global presence.
The ICCT outlined forthcoming and ongoing activities to the board, highlights include:
- TRUE Europe: More than 250,000 valid records have been collected in the cities of Brussels and Warsaw. Data analysis is underway and will provide new insights into the performance of Euro 6d certified vehicles, the emissions impacts of vehicle movement from Western to Eastern Europe, and the expected emissions changes resulting from LEZ policies, among other topics.
- TRUE Asia: In Seoul, Republic of Korea (ROK), and shared by the Korean Environment Corporation, which runs the country’s remote sensing program. The dataset and analysis will provide a detailed picture of emissions from the Seoul fleet and implications for emission control policies such as the Green Transport Zone. In Jakarta, Indonesia, the ICCT has partnered with Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) to measure and analyse the emissions of close to 150,000 vehicles during the course of the study.
- TRUE North America: The results of TRUE’s work to construct and analyse a database of remote sensing data collected in the United States were published in October 2020. Since publication, the work has been presented in a number of venues, and ICCT has briefed EPA and CARB on key findings. TRUE is now working with New York City DOT on an analysis of the air quality and health impacts of emissions from diesel trucks operating in the city.
- TRUE Latin America: TRUE has worked with Mexico City to analyse remote sensing data collected in the city in 2019 and to develop a new testing project for later this year. TRUE is also developing new work in Bogotá, where the Secretary of Environment has expressed interest in working with the Initiative to investigate the real-world emissions of vehicles operating in the city, in particular HDVs. Planning is underway for a pilot remote sensing study in the city in 2022.
Louise Duprez of Bruxelles Environnement presented an overview of the recent Brussels remote sensing project, focusing on the ways in which the Brussels administration has used results from the research to support their policymaking. Further study will take place to investigate extending similar requirements to diesel HDVs and gasoline LDVs. Louise also highlighted collocated noise measurements as a unique aspect of the study. The collected noise data will be analysed by Brussels Environment with results expected later this year.
The Advisory Board then went on to discuss TRUE’s approach to COVID recovery and implications for air quality issues and plans towards COP26.