The European Parliament is calling for new diesel cars to be required to comply with the legal limit values for nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions in real driving conditions as of September 2022.
The resolution—adopted by a large majority (485 votes in favour, 169 against, and 42 abstentions) on the evening of Wednesday, 16 September—confirms the compromise between major political groups on the report by Esther Lange (EPP, Netherlands) (see EUROPE 12527/1). It paves the way for negotiations with the EU Council.
The resolution calls for an end to the discrepancies between laboratory tests and RDE tests by 30 September 2022.
To this end, Parliament wants the current conformity factor in the RDE tests to be lowered each year based on evaluations by the Joint Research Centre.
After an immediate reduction from 1.43 to 1.32, the conformity factor should be gradually reduced so as to disappear on 30 September 2022, after which raw data from tests in real driving conditions would be used to determine compliance with EU emission limits (see EUROPE 12410/13).
Parliament is also calling on the Commission to establish, as of June 2021, more stringent requirements for the portable emissions measurement systems (PEMS) used for RDE tests.
It should be recalled that in 2016, Member States and the Commission had decided that cars could emit 50% more than the legal limit for NOx (80 mg/km) until the end of 2020 and 43% more with no cut-off date during road tests due to uncertainties related to portable measuring equipment (PEMS).
T&E, an NGO that campaigns for sustainable transport, was pleased with [the outcome of] this vote that will make it possible to “put an end to the ‘licence to pollute’ carmakers managed to obtain in the midst of the Dieselgate scandal” and calls on EU governments to support this position (see EUROPE 12431/12). (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)