T he Global Environmental Facility’s ( gef ) governing council meeting held in Washington dc , in early May, has approved grants totalling us $12 million for the first phase of two projects in India and China to facilitate the use of fuel cell buses ( fcb s). Both projects are to be implemented by the United Nations Development Programme ( undp ) and are the last of the five fcb projects undertaken within the ambit of the Facility’s Sustainable Transport programme. The mandate is to reduce air pollution by investing in pollution-free transportation. Earlier three fcb projects were granted clearance in Mexico, Egypt and Brazil.

GEF Strategy to Develop FCBs, the Facility’s base document, drafted in 2000, defines fuel cell technology as a “low-emission technology that electro-chemically converts hydrogen into electricity.” It argues that fuel cell-driven vehicles possess several advantages over conventional vehicles for urban transport system. First of all, fuel cell stacks work most efficiently at lower levels of power output in contrast to power trains of conventional vehicles. Secondly, it functions at maximum efficiency in urban transit operations where frequent stops are necessary.

Finally, fcbs are environment-friendly as compared to the conventional vehicles. Distilled water is the only emission from a fcb, and they produce no particulate emissions like sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxide or carbon dio