Air quality
#EUVehicleEmissions laws improved since #Dieselgate, but challenges remain, warn auditors
Published
2 years agoon

EU laws on vehicle emissions have been improved since the Dieselgate scandal, but challenges remain, according to a new Briefing Paper from the European Court of Auditors. The auditors welcome the improvements in market surveillance but point out that its effectiveness depends on implementation by the member states. They also warn that manufacturers may find ways around the new testing systems which have been introduced and that scope for independent third-party testing may be limited because of the high costs involved.
In 2015, discrepancies between vehicle emission levels in the laboratory and on the road were brought into sharp focus by the so-called Dieselgate scandal, which revealed that some car makers were using “defeat devices” to produce significantly lower emissions during official tests than during normal driving.
Dieselgate stimulated the EU to accelerate legislative initiatives already underway and to take new action. The European Parliament set up an enquiry into emissions measurement and the European Commission announced plans to improve the available data on vehicle emissions testing, which is limited, fragmented, and difficult to access. In addition, there were a large number of changes to EU vehicle emissions checks:
- The Commission can now review the work of national type-approval authorities, test vehicles themselves, withdraw or suspend type-approvals, and impose penalties;
- testing of vehicles in circulation is now mandatory in EU member states and may also be conducted by interested third-parties, and;
- new tests have been introduced to tackle the large gap between CO2 (carbon dioxide) emission levels in the laboratory and on the road, and to measure NOx (nitrogen oxide) emissions.As many of the new rules are not yet fully in force, it was too early to assess whether the problems have been solved. Nevertheless, the auditors highlight a number of challenges facing the new system of testing.
“We welcome the fact that the actions have been taken, but it may take many years to improve inner-city air quality, given the large number of highly-polluting cars already on the roads,” said Samo Jereb, the member of the European Court of Auditors responsible for the Briefing Paper. “Even though more than ten million vehicles have been recalled so far, the limited data available indicates that the impact on NOx emissions has been small.”
The new NOx test has led to a significant reduction of NOx emissions by new diesel cars, say the auditors, but the impact could have been even greater if the initially proposed temporary limit of 128 mg/km had been adopted, instead of 168 mg/km.
The auditors’ view is that improvements will take some time to become apparent and they identify a number of issues:
- The effectiveness of market surveillance will depend on the implementation by member states;
- although the legislation provides for better monitoring of the gap between laboratory figures and CO2/NOx emissions on the road, manufacturers may find new ways to adapt their vehicle emissions during the tests, and;
- the newly-introduced independent third-party testing may be limited due to the high costs involved.
A Briefing Paper is not an audit report, but a review based on publicly available information and the auditors’ work in the policy area.
The ECA’s briefing paper The EU’s response to the 'dieselgate' scandal is available on the ECA website in 23 EU languages.
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Air quality
Powering a climate-neutral economy: Commission sets out plans for the energy system of the future and clean hydrogen, and launches the #EuropeanCleanHydrogenAlliance
Published
7 months agoon
July 8, 2020
To become climate-neutral by 2050, Europe needs to transform its energy system, which accounts for 75% of the EU’s greenhouse gas emissions. The EU strategies for energy system integration and hydrogen, adopted today (8 July), will pave the way towards a more efficient and interconnected energy sector, driven by the twin goals of a cleaner planet and a stronger economy.
The two strategies present a new clean energy investment agenda, in line with the Commission’s Next Generation EU recovery package and the European Green Deal. The planned investments have the potential to stimulate the economic recovery from the coronavirus crisis. They create European jobs and boost our leadership and competitiveness in strategic industries, which are crucial to Europe’s resilience.
To help deliver on this Strategy, the Commission is launching today the European Clean Hydrogen Alliance with industry leaders, civil society, national and regional ministers and the European Investment Bank. The Alliance will build up an investment pipeline for scaled-up production and will support demand for clean hydrogen in the EU. The alliance will be built on the principles of cooperation, inclusiveness and transparency. The focus of the European Clean Hydrogen Alliance is on renewable hydrogen, complemented during a transition period by low-carbon hydrogen with very ambitious CO2 emission reductions compared to fossil-based hydrogen.The European Clean Hydrogen Alliance launch event will be live streamed here at 16h00.
More information
- Press release
- Q&A on the EU Energy System Integration Strategy
- Q&A on the EU Hydrogen Strategy
- Factsheets on the EU Energy System Integration Strategy, the EU Hydrogen Strategy and the European Clean Hydrogen Alliance
- Videos on the EU Energy System Integration and EU Hydrogen Strategy
Follow the press conference by Executive Vice-President for the European Green Deal Timmermans and Commissioner for Energy Simson live on EbS.

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Air quality
Clarkson calls eco warrior #GretaThunberg 'spoilt brat'
Published
1 year agoon
October 2, 2019
Jeremy Clarkson (pictured) has weighed into eco-activist Greta Thunberg, calling her a “spoilt brat”.
Greta, 16, told the United Nations her childhood had been ruined by global changing.
She said: “I shouldn’t be up here. I should be back in school on the other side of the ocean.
“Yet you all come to us for hope.
“How dare you.
“You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words.”
Clarkson said: “How dare you sail to America on a carbon fibre yacht that you didn’t build which cost £15million, that you didn’t earn, and which has a back-up diesel engine that you didn’t mention.
“We gave you mobile phones and laptops and the internet.
“We created the social media you use every day and we run the banks that pay for it all.
“So how dare you stand there and lecture us, you spoilt brat.”
He claimed science will solve the earth’s problem “not scowling and having screaming ab-dabs every five minutes”.
He concluded: “So be a good girl, shut up and let them get on with it.”

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