US EPA awards international diesel retrofit grant to Mexico City

22 June 2004

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has launched the first international Diesel Retrofit Project in Mexico City. EPA and EMBARQ, the World Resources Institute’s Center for Transport and the Environment, have awarded grants totaling $511,000 to the Center for Sustainable Transport, a Mexico City-based non-governmental organization to implement the project.

This pilot project—which involves the combined use of low sulfur fuels and diesel retrofit technologies such as diesel particulate filters—will reduce emissions of PM and other pollutants by as much as 90% or more in a fleet of 20 Mexico City diesel buses. The Mexico City Diesel Retrofit Project is EPA’s first international retrofit project, which is serving as a model for similar projects in other areas of the world, in Thailand, Chile and India, said the EPA.

The project was announced in Mexico City by EPA Administrator Mike Leavitt, together with representatives from the World Resources Institute (a Washington, DC-based nonprofit environmental research and policy organization), Mexico City government, the Mexican Ministry for Environment and Natural Resources, and the Mexico City Center for Sustainable Transport.

The list of partners and technical advisors for the project includes Dr. Mario Molina of MIT; Environmental and Energy Technology Policy Institute (EETPI); Northeast States Center for a Clean Air Future (NESCCAF); the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC); International Truck and Engine; Volvo; Mercedes; Engine, Fuel and Emissions Engineering Incorporated; Ambientalis; and others.

Source: EPA [news release]