While on the macro level the worlds’ hopes are pinned on high profile summits such as the UN Climate Change conference at Copenhagen, there’s actually a lot of useful ground-level brainstorming that gets done in smaller, and less conspicuous, conference rooms all over the world. One such occasion was the 4th International Environmentally Friendly Vehicle (EFV) conference, which was held over two days during the last week of November in New Delhi – being a bi-annual conference, the previous editions have been held in Tokyo, Birmingham, and Dresden. India played host to the 2009 conference under a myriad of different Government Ministries and industry bodies, which ensured broad based participation and involvement, leading to a cross-section of views.

An impromptu poll of the conference delegates, by way of a show of hands, demonstrated that practically no one in the audience took public transport to reach the venue, the Ashok Hotel. Jairam Ramesh, Minister for Environment, nonetheless, assured the international audience that the Indian Government attaches the highest importance to planning and implementing an effective public transport system – with the expansion of the Metro in Delhi being a case in point. Not to mention the fact that Delhi already has the largest fleet of CNG buses in the world.

The real issue being faced by the transport sector globally is the fact that this sector, as a whole, is number three – behind power and agriculture – in contributing to manmade greenhouse gasses, which means that it’s instrumental in leading to climate change.

On a policy front, in India, by the end of 2011, the Government will introduce mandatory fuel efficiency standards – an initiative already undertaken on a voluntary basis by the industry under the leadership of SIAM (Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers).

In an effort to promote environmentally friendly vehicles, Jairam Ramesh also suggested public procurement as an instrument for creating sustainable demand for green vehicles. He suggested the need to create scale for such vehicles, and pointed out that government procurement is a powerful instrument for stimulating demand for new technologies, which is to say that his Ministry would support intelligent regulation in this regard– not just as a policeman, but with a view to stimulate innovation.

Vilasrao Deshmukh, Minister for Heavy Industries, meanwhile, pointed out that cars and bikes in India are already among the most fuel efficient in the world – in the case of two-wheelers especially. Stayanarayana Dash, Secretary in the Ministry for Heavy Industries, reiterated this point, and, in keeping with the Governments outlook, is hopeful that India will become a global hub for the manufacture of compact and efficient cars. He did point out, however, that what’s needed is a defined roadmap to encourage the use of environmentally friendly vehicles in India – something which automakers from across the globe would welcome. Toyota displayed its Prius at the event, which has become synonymous with the term EFV and ‘hybrid’ the world over. Companies such as Toyota would welcome a proactive move by the government to ease the import and tax burden on environmentally friendly vehicles – incentives the likes of which many governments the world over already provide to eco-friendly vehicles.

The conference saw a debate on a wide range of subjects, starting from how to actually evaluate an EFV. Christoph Albus, from the Ministry of Transport in Germany, suggested using a complete lifecycle assessment – a well-to-wheel approach that would also look at the aspect of green manufacturing. This is something that Toyota’s already mindful of in the case of the Prius, as evidenced by its state-of-the-art ‘eco-factory’ in Tsutsumi, Japan. Cornie Huizenga, from the Partnership on Sustainable Low Carbon Transport, meanwhile, pointed out that a major breakthrough in this field can only take place when the mindset of people beings to change. He gave the example of what’s happened in the world of smoking. It’s only when a similar change occurs with regards to mobility that tangible results can be achieved. In similar vein, Anil Khurana, with PRTM Middle East from Dubai, pointed out that every few decades we reach a stage of dramatic change, such as the case with microprocessors in the recent past, and all the stakeholders have to decide they want to make that change in mobility.

While most speakers agreed that no silver bullet exists to solve the problem of fossil fuel dependence, there does seem to be an emerging consensus that electric cars are the best way forward in the short and medium term. And while that’s something that would please the likes of Chetan Maini, Chairman of REVA cars, who have the world’s largest fleet of electric vehicles in operation, even he agreed that some serious obstacles still exist – especially in developing nations like India where demand for power far exceeds supply.

Maini suggests that this is an opportunity to change the infrastructure in our country, and to get rid of polluting sources by creating a relevant infrastructure for the new-age with a focus on renewables. For developed markets, he doesn’t see much of a problem because it’s very easy to put electronics in a plug-in electric car to take advantage of low peak demand in the middle of the night.

The real consensus, however, was that there’s a need for an integrated approach from all stakeholders – the auto industry, fuel industry, regulators and consumers alike – if a real change is to be made. Addressing consumer behavior will be key – the technology is evolving, but now the collective mindset needs to follow suit.