Policymakers across the globe are increasingly addressing traffic related air pollution and its impact on public health and the environment. When looking for a potential policy fix to air pollution created by transportation sources (mobile sources), governments have tended to base their policy options on changes in vehicle technology and fuel quality.
With regard to fuel quality issues, two key policy models are typically used across the globe. These are the:
Although countries have opted or are opting for approaches similar to one or the other program based on national relevance from a political, economic, or industry perspective, no systematic or political analysis has been published comparing the EU and U.S. models regulating fuel quality.
This paper focuses on these two regulatory frameworks and demonstrates that, due to different air quality priorities and policy approaches, the resulting specifications ultimately established for automotive fuels are quite different in these two regions.