Brussels, 19/02/2016 (Agence Europe) - If emissions of black carbon (soot) from diesel engines and the constantly improving performances of petrol engines are taken into account, diesel cars are a bigger cause of climate change than petrol cars, according to a study presented at a hearing in the European Parliament on Wednesday 17 February by NGO Green Budget Europe and MEP Deirdre Clune (EPP, Ireland).
The study, by Dr Eckard Helmers, professor of chemical and environmental analysis at Trier University of Applied Sciences, reveals that, in Europe, the percentage of diesel cars has increased by 15% at the start of the 1990s and by more than 50% over the last few years (53% of new cars sold in Western Europe in 2014, compared with between 1% and 5% in Japan and the United States), thanks to tax subsidies and less strict anti-pollution standards than those applied to petrol cars.
These are two factors which cannot be justified, the study says. Expressed in terms of CO2 equivalence, emissions from pre-2005 diesel cars, very few of which were fitted with particulate filters, were 25-50% higher per kilometre than official estimates at the time that these cars were sold. And while virtually all diesel cars sold after 2005 were fitted with filters to cut particulates, tests carried out in France show that, in 75% of cases, they do not work properly.
The tax benefits enjoyed by diesel in the EU were, however, based on the mistaken belief that diesel would help reduce climate change. It is for that reason that black carbon was not counted in international climate change agreements.
Green Budget Europe argues that this study makes clear the need for reform of tax subsidies for diesel. It believes that Germany should follow the example of France in increasing diesel taxation to narrow the gap between diesel and petrol prices that can be seen in all member states except the United Kingdom.
The study shows, too, that by embracing a different technology and promoting hybrid vehicles, rather than diesel, since the start of the 1990s, Japan has outstripped the EU in the manufacture of low CO2-emitting cars (the average new car sold in Japan in 2013 emits only 108g per kilometre, with diesel cars making up only 1.8% of new car sales while petrol hybrids account for 22%; in the EU, the average car emits 128g of CO2 per kilometre, diesel cars form 53% of new car sales and petrol hybrids making up only 1.4%). (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)