Almost one third of trucks in Spain exceed the EU legal emission limits. This is despite the fact that high nitrogen dioxide (NO2) emissions from road transport result in the deaths of 50,000 people a year, warned Transport&Environment on Wednesday 8 September, based on tests it has carried out in Barcelona and Madrid.
According to the NGO, which campaigns for sustainable transport, remote emissions tests carried out on Euro VI trucks – the latest European air pollution standards – over a three-year period (2017–2019) show that 29% of the 587 light and heavy trucks assessed were high emitters of nitrogen oxide (NOx).
“New trucks in and around European cities are still producing deadly levels of air pollution”, said the NGO in a statement.
It also notes that official tests are inadequate since they are only two and a half hours long and often do not take into account emissions from everyday driving conditions, such as low-speed driving and cold starts (the emissions that happen when the engine is first switched on).
With a revision of truck standards due in 2022, the NGO says the EU must improve testing on trucks and set a requirement for at least half of all trucks sold to be emission-free by 2030. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)