Ghana wants fewer polluting old cars on the road. But it’s going about it the wrong way

Most Ghanaian cars are imported as used vehicles. Shutterstock

Used vehicles contribute greatly to transport emissions, undermining public health and the environment. In the US, Europe and parts of Asia, clunkers programmes – exchanging older, polluting used vehicles for cash – are becoming a popular approach for reducing the vehicles’ socio-environmental harms.

Only so many of the vehicles in circulation are, however, exchanged and destroyed or recycled. A good number of them are exported to Africa and other low-income regions of the world for reuse.