‘Old and unsafe’ cars sent to developing world fuelling air pollution, report finds

Poor quality of used vehicles exported from the US, Europe and Japan are hindering efforts to mitigate climate breakdown, says UN

Millions of used motor vehicles exported from the US, Europe and Japan to developing countries are of poor quality and are contributing significantly to air pollution, according a new UN report.

About 80% of the 14m used light-duty vehicles - saloon cars, SUVs and minibuses - exported between 2015 and 2018 went to low and middle-income countries. About 40% went to Africa, found the report, published by the UN Environment Programme (Unep).