No fewer than 29 million diesel vehicles – cars and vans – of all makes significantly exceeding the value limits for nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions set by EU legislation (Euro V and Euro VI standards) are being driven on European roads, according to a study by the NGO Transport & Environment (T&E) that was published on Monday 19 September.
Exactly a year ago, on 19 September, the Volkswagen scandal broke. Through this study, “Dieselgate: Who? What? How?”, T&E, which campaigns for sustainable transport, has chosen to show on the first anniversary of “Dieselgate”, that Europe’s failure to impose sanctions on Volkswagen for using cheat devices to circumvent pollution standards and to compensate consumers affected “is only the tip of the iceberg”.
Connivance of national authorities. The study says there is a lack of independence among national regulators in Europe and these authorities have chosen to connive with the large-scale cheating, putting commercial interests above those of public health, since none can now be unaware that air pollution kills. It caused over 400,000 premature deaths in the EU in 2010. Nitrogen dioxide (NO²) emissions, mainly from diesel engines in built-up areas, are estimated by the European Environment Agency to be responsible for an 72,000 premature deaths last year, T&E states (see EUROPE 11442), slamming the human cost of these infringements of environmental law.
“The true scandal of Dieselgate in Europe is national regulators turning a blind eye to the glaring evidence of test cheating with the sole purpose of protecting their national carmakers or their own business. … We need a European watchdog to stop EU member states protecting their national champions and to ensure the single market for vehicles operates in the interests of all citizens”, said Greg Archer, clean vehicles director at T&E.
The study analysed emissions test data from around 230 diesel car models, taken from the investigations conducted by the British, French and German governments, as well as a large public database.
It shows that more four out of five cars sold between 2010 and 2014 which comply with the Euro V standard (180 r/km) in laboratory testing in fact produce more than three times that limit under real driving conditions. Two thirds of Euro VI cars (most of which have been on sale since 2015) continue to emit three times the limit value of 80 g/km under real driving conditions. Of these “dirty” diesel cars, 69% were sold in France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom.
The largest number of “dirty” – but yet approved – diesels is on French roads (5.5 million), followed by Germany (5.3 million), the UK (4.3 million), Italy (3.1 million), Spain (1.9 million) and Belgium (1.4 million). Trailing well behind come Austria (737,000), Sweden (696,000), the Netherlands (536,000), Poland (430,000) and Portugal (376,000).
While Volkswagen may hold the record for the most polluting Euro V vehicles sold between 2011 and 2016, all other manufacturers’ diesel engines pollute more than Volkswagen’s on the Euro VI standard. Fiat and Suzuki diesel cars on average pollute 15 times more than the legal NOx limit; Renault-Nissan vehicles exceed the limit by more than 14 times; General Motors’ brands Opel/Vauxhall pollute 10 times more while Volkswagen diesel cars pollute twice as much as the Euro VI standard. “More than 5.5 million dirty diesels are still on French roads … What is Ségolène Royal doing?” tweeted MEP Karima Delli (Greens/EFA, France).
Call for centralised approval system. Following on from its own revelations, T&E calls for a centralised vehicle approval system. The proposal presented by the European Commission in January 2016 on the reform of the vehicle approval system in the EU seeks only to increase independence of the system and enhance the role of the Commission as the supervising body (see EUROPE 11475 and 11476).
The proposal by Karima Delli for an independent European market monitoring agency which would conduct its own testing has not, so far, met with great enthusiasm in either the Parliament or the Commission (see EUROPE 11614).
After asking the member states to provide her with information on the methods used in the investigations carried out by the various member states, Industry Commissioner Elzbieta Bienkowska told the European Parliament committee of inquiry into the Volkswagen scandal on 13 September that she would be opening infringement procedures against member states next month, once she had all the evidence to hand (see EUROPE 11623).
Justice and Consumers Commissioner Vera Jourova, who suspects Volkswagen of breaches of two European consumers’ rights directives, is continuing her contact with national authorities responsible for enforcing European consumers’ rights, consumers’ organisations and Volkswagen representatives with a view to putting in place the conditions that will allow fair treatment for European consumers from the German car-maker. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)