India is looking to liquefied natural gas to reduce pollution from its trucking industry.
The Oil Ministry plans to encourage the conversion of a third of existing long-haul trucks to the super-chilled gas from diesel, according to a draft policy. It also plans to mandate that a third of new trucks run on LNG.
The move is similar to what’s happening in neighboring China, where LNG trucks now account for about a fifth of total new sales in the segment, according to BloombergNEF. Measures to speed the transition could include incentives to convert vehicles, reducing some road tolls and giving preference to LNG trucks for transport contracts, the ministry said.
The shift would also help meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s target to boost the share of natural gas in the energy mix to 15% by 2030 from 6%.