On average, the high pollution levels in large cities reduces life expectancy by 72 days compared to people living in clean-air regional environments.

For my acquaintances who still argue with me about the reality of anthropogenic climate change, I usually win the argument when I say that surely it would be better if we just reduced the amount of pollution in the world. Hard to argue that we should increase pollution!

Cars, taxis and buses make up 13 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions and in some developed countries, such as the US, this figure is as high as 20 per cent.

Reducing pollution from vehicles could have a dramatic impact.

I know what you are thinking. The easy solution is just to convert the world to electric vehicles (EVs) and the problem goes away.

One gold star for your thought process but there are two issues with that. Firstly, it is not happening. Secondly, what do we do with all those internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEVs) that are already on the road?

Hong Kong has a world-first solution to try and address a part of the issue.

Not all ICEVs are producing the same amount of pollution. There are variables such as the age of the vehicle, the kilometres travelled, the maintenance regime and the specific model.

The actual type of pollution can vary as well. Carbon monoxide is the most obvious pollutant, but nitrogen oxide and particulate matter are also exiting your exhaust pipe.

Hong Kong has installed a network of 150 sensors on highway ramps.

These sensors use infrared and ultraviolet beams to detect pollutant levels from the exhausts of cars as they pass by. If high levels are detected, your number plate is captured and you will receive a letter from the transport authorities.

This is no friendly "please be aware..." letter. This letter informs you that your car registration is effectively suspended until you take rectification action on your vehicle. You must have your vehicle repaired and it must pass an emissions test before your vehicle is allowed back on the road.

Already 16,365 high-emitting vehicles have been identified by the scheme and issued with a notice and 96.3 per cent were repaired and are now back on the roads.

The 2.3 per cent of those identified decided not to repair their vehicles and the registrations of those vehicles were subsequently cancelled. The rest are still being repaired.

In the data gathered so far, the worst emitters were emitting over ten times the threshold limits. You can see the impact here.

Removing one such car from the roads is the equivalent of removing more than ten vehicles.

Not surprisingly, older vehicles were more likely to fail the test and 90 per cent of the repairs needed related to catalytic converters.

To apply this to other localities, approximately 0.5 per cent of vehicles analysed were above the threshold limits. That means that, on average, for every 200 cars you pass on the road, one is probably a high-emitter.

More importantly, has it had any impact?

Independent monitoring comparing air quality at roadside locations before the trials started until now has shown a 26 per cent reduction in greenhouse gases.

Several European countries are also starting experiments with roadside sensors after seeing the success in Hong Kong and I won't be surprised to see similar enforcement schemes.

Tell me if you think this seems like a good step in the right direction or if we should just ban ICEVs and move to EVs at ask@techtalk.digital.

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