Welcome to the Cleaner Buses, Trucks and Fuels Information Pool!

Transport-related air pollution is increasingly contributing to environmental health risks, and to greenhouse gas emissions in many Latin American cities. The social costs of poor urban air quality are significant, making this issue an immediate priority. In Latin America over 100 million are exposed to air pollution above WHO standards and an estimated 200,000 die prematurely every year as a result of air pollution.

The Clean Technologies Information Pool (Info Pool in short) is one of the featured activities of the Clean Air Initiative in Latin American Cities, which seeks to improve air quality by bringing together the efforts of leaders from the public and private sectors, NGOs, research and academic institutions, government agencies and international institutions.

The overall goal of the Information Pool is to provide easily accessible and comprehensive information on cleaner buses, trucks and fuels, with a particular focus on Latin American cities (although much of the information provided here is also relevant to other parts of the world). The Info Pool is designed to be neutral and objective and intends to facilitate the decision making process of air quality management in Latin American cities.

However, it is not intended to replace the user's own assessment of the applicability of cleaner bus, truck and fuels options. These assessments should be placed in the broader policy context, take into account other available air quality options and specific local economic and environmental conditions and be guided by economic analyses. Those economical analyses must also take into account the costs for possible new infrastructure when advanced engine/vehicle technology is used.

The crucial question of these assessments is how to phase in the adoption of cleaner technology cost-effectively, and what non-technical policies are essential to maximize chances of successful implementation of technology-based policies. The goal of the Info Pool is not to advocate for any one cleaner bus, truck or fuels option nor to imply that cleaner buses, trucks and/or fuels are the only solutions to the air quality problem.

More specifically, the Info Pool aims to provide answers to the following questions:

• What is the broader policy context within which the choices between different bus, truck and fuels options are to be made?
  
• What cleaner bus, truck and fuels options are available?
• What are their main advantages and disadvantages?
• How do the various options compare against each other?
• What challenges remain to be overcome for the various cleaner bus, truck and fuels options?
• What are the lessons that have been learned (including positive and negative results) from actual experiences with cleaner bus, truck and fuel options and what are the best practices for the introduction of cleaner bus, truck and fuels options?