Beijing To Reward Car Owners For Driving Less, Something Delhi Can Try To Reduce Pollution

Beijing has found a novel way to encourage car owners in the city to reduce their vehicle emissions. The Beijing Environmental Exchange on Friday launched a credit system that rewards those keeping their car use under check.

The exchange has developed a new mobile application that lets car owners create an account and accumulate credits upon the optimal usage of their vehicles. These credits can then be exchanged for rewards.

The mobile application is a part of a larger move by the Beijing authorities that targets a reduction in carbon emissions in the city by 1 million tonnes within three years. There is a simple calculation that might help the city authorities reach the goal.

As reported by Xinhua Net, Wang Huijun, executive vice president of the exchange, said that a driver does not drive the car for about 200 days over a three-year period, he or she can help cut carbon emissions by around 1 tonne.

The exchange thus hopes to involve 1 million car owners in the city with the campaign to roughly amount to 1 million tonnes of reduction in carbon emissions in the city.

If successful in China, this is something that cities in India can also test. Delhi is already one of the most polluted mega city in the world.

A Proven Success

(Representative Image: Reuters)

In essence, such a credit system for clean energy vehicles is not really new. China has been following the new-energy vehicle credit system for quite a while now. However, it was only applicable for car manufacturers to date.

The system grants credits to car makers for manufacturing or importing clean energy cars in the country. The system also allows the transfer of credit among all the automobile players in the country, meaning those not meeting their quota might borrow credit from their rivals. This credit system is also one of the top reasons behind China¡¯s massive EV success.

The new market-based incentive for car owners makes similar sense. As per the exchange, car owners will have a set emission quote for a specific period. They will accordingly gain or lose credits based on their driving frequency and the corresponding emissions. Credits will be also offered to those driving new-energy vehicles that substantially cut down the emissions. The remaining emission quotas can then be bought by enterprises like banks and insurance companies from the car owners.

Such a credit scheme is a hotly trending practice to promote the use of EVs across the globe. Several insurance providers in the US offer similar incentives using connected devices to monitor driving and offer rewards correspondingly.

As per a report by Electrek, Tesla made about $354 million in Q1 2020 by selling its regulatory credits, since the company only deals in zero-emission electric vehicles. Those one the other end of the spectrum, like Fiat Chrysler and General Motors, are the ones who have to shell out their pockets.