"Rich countries are sending millions of older, dirtier vehicles abroad, in a trade that’s largely unregulated, even as they mandate cleaner cars at home."
"WASHINGTON — In recent decades, the United States and Europe have gone to considerable lengths to mandate cleaner, more efficient cars at home. But at the same time, they are shipping millions of their oldest and worst-polluting vehicles to poorer countries overseas in a largely unregulated trade that now poses serious health and environmental hazards, the United Nations warned on Monday.
The report, by the United Nations Environment Program, is the most detailed look yet at the global trade in secondhand cars, which has historically attracted little scrutiny. Between 2015 and 2018, the report found, the United States, the European Union and Japan exported 14 million used passenger cars abroad, with 70 percent ending up in low-income countries in Africa, Eastern Europe, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East.
In theory, this trade can be beneficial: Once older cars are no longer desirable to buyers in wealthy nations, they can have a second life as an affordable transportation option in other countries. In countries like Kenya and Nigeria, more than 90 percent of cars bought today are secondhand imports."
Brad Plumer reports for the New York Times October 26, 2020.
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