T

he Environment Ministry kicked off on Thursday a national movement to promote the use of low-sulfur fuel to reduce air pollution from the transportation sector.

'€œWe hope that in the next five years the public will become more aware about using low-sulfur fuel,'€ the ministry'€™s deputy for air pollution control, Novrizal Tahar, said in a press briefing on Friday.

He said that the ministry would soon launch a full-fledged campaign to promote the use of low-sulfur fuel and alternative fuel.

The ministry said that the program would promote the use of non-subsidized gasoline, gas fuel and biofuel.

The use of subsidized premium gasoline, which has high sulfur content, currently makes up almost 97 percent of the nation'€™s total gasoline consumption.

As a result, vehicular emissions from subsidized fuels are contributing to the worsening of air pollution in some cities,'€ Novrizal said, as quoted by Antara news agency.

Data from the ministry showed that only between 2.5 and 3.5 percent of the country'€™s motorists used non-subsidized fuel.

Diesel, one of the most-widely used fuel sources contains sulfur content between 2,000 to 3,000 parts per million (ppm).

Green groups have warned that Indonesia'€™s diesel was now the dirtiest fuel in the region.

Indonesia, as stipulated in a 2003 ministerial decree, has adopted Euro II, an international standard on emission levels from motor vehicles that requires automobiles to use diesel fuel with sulfur contents below 500 ppm.

Diesel fuel currently sold in Indonesia has an average sulfur content of 3,500 ppm.

Meanwhile, the fuel that meets the standard of Euro IV contains between 50 and 500 ppm.

By comparison, the sulfur levels in fuel sold in Singapore stands at 10 ppm. In China and Thailand, sulfur levels are at 50 ppm, while in Japan and South Korea the levels are at 10 ppm, according to data from the ministry.

The high sulfur content of fuel could lead to an increase in the number of people suffering from air pollution-related diseases, Novrizal said.

A study conducted by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) found that Jakarta residents spend an annual average of Rp 38.5 trillion (US$3,11 billion) on medical bills due to air pollution.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), an estimated seven million people have died of air pollution-related diseases worldwide. Nearly 60,000 of the deaths are from Indonesia.

The ministry announced that nine cities in the country had joined the effort to compile data on their emissions.

The cities are Batam, Yogyakarta, Surabaya, Malang, Denpasar, Banjarmasin, Bandung, Medan and Tangerang.