Brussels, 22/09/2015 (Agence Europe) - Environmentalists have long been saying it, and the Volkswagen scandal in the United States has confirmed it: emissions tests for road vehicles conducted in laboratories do not accurately reflect emission levels in real driving conditions, particularly when manufacturers circumvent the procedure to falsify the emissions levels of vehicles that do not meet the required standards.
In order to beat US environmental standards, 11 million diesel-engine cars were equipped with defeat devices designed to cheat emissions tests and were marketed by Volkswagen, as the jewel in the crown of the German motor car industry has admitted.
This scandal, coming less than 80 days from the COP 21 climate conference in Paris, has caused outrage and anger in Germany, the United States and South Korea, which has imported 59,000 models fitted with the defeat devices. There is certain to be fall-out in Europe.
Call for investigation in EU. Enraged, the Greens/EFA Group in the European Parliament called on Monday 21 September for the European Commission to open an investigation to determine whether EU test procedures have also been manipulated. The following day, French Finance Minister Michel Sapin also called for a European investigation to be opened. When asked about the Commission's intentions, spokesperson Lucia Caudet said that the institution wanted to “get to the bottom of things” and was in contact with the US authorities. “We are keeping a close eye on the investigations in the United States and in Germany. It would be premature for us to draw any conclusions. We are taking things very seriously. We owe it to consumers and the environment. We have to be certain that emissions limits are respected. We will hold discussions with the member states”, she said. A meeting is about to be organised with national authorities responsible for vehicle approval procedures, she indicated. “From next year, new procedures will mean emissions are measured not in laboratories but under real driving conditions”, she assured, pointing out, however, that the Volkswagen issue “is not a problem with the rules but with violation of the rules”.
Salutary revelations just prior to Parliament vote. The revelations of the US Environmental Protection Agency came just ahead of the European Parliament environment committee vote on updating the European regulation on the Euro V/Euro VI standards, limiting polluting emissions from road vehicles (rapporteur: Albert Dess, EPP, Germany). They could not have come at a better time, bringing practices to public attention that have long been known in the EU, say the Greens/EFA. “The criminal energy used by Volkswagen to circumvent environmental and health legislation is shocking. Our group has long called for vehicle testing procedures to be improved to better reflect real emissions and fuel consumption”, said Rebeca Harms (Germany).
The Greens/EFA Group also put down an amendment that would put in place clear rules for the test procedure for measuring pollutant emissions. The amendment is part of a cross-party compromise. The European Commission has presented a separate proposal to adapt the testing method via the EU's comitology process, which EU governments and carmakers are trying to water down.
Open secret. “It has long been an open secret that European carmakers have been ducking the EU's rules to enable them to keep their highly polluting cars on the road. The scandal with Volkswagen in the US on car pollution rules should focus the minds of EU politicians. Exactly the same is happening in Europe. Yet, as we speak, car manufacturers and EU governments are trying to weaken draft rules for a new EU test procedure for car emissions”, stated Bas Eickhout (Greens/EFA, Belgium) on Tuesday. He went on to say that his group expected strong support from the Parliament's environment committee for the Greens' proposal to ensure that the new test is implemented as soon as possible and to make certain that no loopholes are being introduced.
For years Transport & Environment (T&E), an organisation promoting clean transport, has been repeating incessantly that, because of loopholes in fuel efficiency tests that are being exploited by manufacturers, there is a huge gulf between the figures declared by the motor car industry and the reality on the road. That is the reason why the Commission wants to introduce a new testing procedure in 2017 (WLTP, World Light Duty Test Procedure), defined by the United Nations and designed to reflect real driving conditions as closely as possible (see EUROPE 11070).
The Council Presidency hopes that this second package will be adopted at the end of the year. “We would like to set intermediate limits so as to adjust the fleet on the market with the current Euro V Euro VI limits. These two stages would be brought together in a single regulation but we have to bear in mind the burden that will be put on car manufacturers. We think that, by the end of the year, we will be able to come to agreement with the member states”, the representative of the Luxembourg Presidency of the Council told MEPs on 3 September. He was speaking in an exchange of views in the environment committee on emissions testing procedures under real driving conditions forming part of the draft regulation on in-service conformity tests.
“The WLTP will mean we have more exact CO2 measurements. In 2014, we revised the legislation. Currently, we are working to make sure this system is in force from September 2017 for new vehicles and for all vehicles from 2018”, added the representative of the Commission's Directorate General Climate. CO2 emissions targets are currently set on the basis of the NEDC (New European Driving Cycle). The Commission is currently bringing in the WLTP (World Light Duty Test).
“By virtue of the concept of comparable rigour, a robust correlation study must be carried out between cycles of NEDC and WLTP tests. We have been working on this for months. It's a very complex task. We have been supported by the industry, the member states and NGOs. The study is on-going. We will continue to apply NEDC measures but there must be correlation. Between now and the end of the year, we will be able to convert NEDC into WLTP. DG Climate will work with DG Growth on implementation. DG Climate will adopt an implementing regulation setting out the methodology. The Commission will proceed by delegated acts to adjust the formulae and text of the regulation”, he said.
European market even more open to cheating. There are significant differences between the US and European markets, beginning with the very nature of the vehicle fleet. Diesel-engine vehicles form only 1% of the fleet in the US, whereas in Europe it is 50%, a European source says. Thus, last year alone, of the 10 million diesel vehicles sold worldwide, 7.5 million were sold in Europe, says Transport & Environment. T&E notes, too, that, since 2009, when Volkswagen began fitting the defeat device, almost 40 million diesel vehicles have been sold in Europe.
Yet, even though it is a niche market in the United States, the American pollutant gas emissions testing is more robust, while still containing clear gaps.
On the other side of the Atlantic, by virtue of the Clean Air Act (CAA), car manufacturers carry out laboratory tests and checks on emissions prior to the placing of vehicles on the market with a view to obtaining certification. However, unlike Europe, which requires only one check by manufacturers, US authorities have the power to conduct tests, ex post, and on more than one occasion, the institutions say. Thus, between 10% and 15% of new models are tested in the laboratories of US public authorities. The problem, says T&E, relates to the very practices of European manufacturers which negotiate with certified organisations so that these organisations carry out their tests in the manufacturers' laboratories, placing serious question marks over the reliability of the results obtained.
“Nevertheless, the difference during testing (between US and European tests) isn't relevant, given that any laboratory test can be manipulated”, argues a source close to the matter.
Lastly, limits on NOx emissions also differ. In the United States, they are set at 50mg per mile, while the EU limit is 80mg per kilometre. “But this difference is not significant in the present case”, the Commission argues. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang with Pascal Hansens)