Tata’s Nano and global warming

Posted by James Kanter in General, Automobiles, Consumer Consciousness

The world’s cheapest car, launched this week by India’s Tata Motors, seems to herald a mobility revolution for people in the developing world. Millions of consumers each year could leap virtually overnight from the indignity of two-wheeled motor scooters to the relative luxury of four wheels and a roof.

Tata isn’t alone in trying to profit from the aspirations of populations emerging from relative poverty. Soon there could be plenty of choice, with Renault of France and Nissan of Japan also seeking ways of selling compact cars for $3,000 or less.

What does all this mean for the business of green?

Environmentalists are broadly attacking the Nano and its progeny as disaster for climate. More cars means choked streets and more emissions. With a population of nearly 16.5 million, Delhi now adds 650 new vehicles to its roads each day. At last count, there were 5.4 million vehicles in all, a more than fivefold increase in 20 years, writes Somini Sengupta in the IHT.

Nobel Prize winner Rajendra Pachauri, the head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, was quoted this week as saying he was “having nightmares” about the car.

But Tata engineers say the vehicle meets Indian pollution standards and emits 120 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometer. That’s far below the current European average of around 160 grams per kilometer. And that makes it especially awkward for consumers and policymakers in the West to criticize India for using its new-found prosperity unfairly.