A report by the UN Environment Programme, UNEP, looks at the global trade in used trucks and buses. These heavy vehicles often move from rich countries to poorer ones when their first owners replace them. The study examined import rules in 146 countries, and 122 of them were low- or middle-income nations.
According to the report, Japan, the European Union and South Korea are major exporters of used heavy vehicles. In 2020, the EU sent abroad about 46 percent of these vehicles, although it built only six percent of new ones. China makes 67 percent of the world's heavy vehicles but had only eight percent of used exports in 2020. That picture is changing, because more than 30 Chinese cities can now sell used vehicles to other countries.