Phasing out lead in automotive fuels: Conversion considerations, policy formulation, and application to Lebanon

The serious public health effects of lead are widely recognized, and many countries of the world have taken steps to completely eliminate it from automotive fuels. This study reviews the international experience with phasing out leaded gasoline; considerations affecting adoption of unleaded fuel are identified, and difficulties underlying change are synthesized. Factors related to technology, supply availability, distribution channels, economics, and social equity are underlined. International experience is distilled into a set of desirable characteristics of policies for phasing out leaded fuel. Such desirable properties include robustness vis-à-vis enforcement and compliance, the existence of a few ‘control points’, flexibility with respect to future vehicle and fuel technologies, cost-neutrality, and fairness in terms of incidence on socio-economic groups. The case of Lebanon is considered in structuring a practical strategy for phasing out leaded fuel. Positive and negative factors likely to affect the success of lead phaseout strategies in Lebanon are identified. Consideration of these factors along with the desirable attributes of successful policies has led to the development of a recommended plan for leaded fuel phaseout.