Zambia has now adopted low Sulphur fuels bringing to ten, the countries in the Southern Africa that have implemented low Sulphur diesel standards. This is after the Indeni petroleum refinery was closed leaving Zambia to solely rely on fuel imports complying to ZS 718: Low Sulphur Gasoil specification.
To create more awareness on the newly implemented standard, the Zambia Bureau of Standards in collaboration with UN Environment Programme and the Environment Compliance Institute (ECI) organized a national sensitization workshop. Zambian stakeholders drawn from the oil marketing companies, government regulators, ministry of energy, conformity assessment institutions, academic institutions, motor vehicle dealers, the private sector, UNEP, and SADC Secretariat attended the hybrid event. The workshop was held on 10 June 2022 with in-person attendance at Radisson Blu Hotel in Lusaka, Zambia. This event was funded by the Climate and Clean Air Coalition as part of its Heavy-Duty Vehicles Initiative.
Some of the recommendations developed in meeting were
- Energy Regulation Board was urged to develop a detailed role out plan on the development of the color-coding standards for fuel dispensers in consultation with the stakeholders to avoid confusion from the previous color coding which factored in the different fuel grades
- The energy regulator was urged to also consider encouraging use of alternative fuels e.g., biofuels and green hydrogen
- Enhance stakeholder collaboration to develop indigenous solutions on alternative cleaner fuels to the challenges faced in Zambia.
Participants were also encouraged to actively participate in the cleaner fuels and vehicles standards harmonization process at the Southern Africa Development Community level.
