The car industry on Wednesday
launched a campaign to “challenge the increasing demonisation of diesel”
vehicles.
The campaign, launched by
the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), promotes the
credentials of the new Euro-6 standards. This Europe-wide law, which will come
into force in September, limits nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions from new diesel
cars to 80mg/km in order to bring down air pollution levels that breach health
regulations in many EU cities.
Diesel cars have come in for
increasing criticism in the last year for their larger-than-thought emissions of
NOx and small particulates. Last year London mayor Boris Johnson proposed a
scheme that would pay diesel car owners up to £2,000 to scrap their vehicle and
switch to a cleaner model.
Diesel was supposed to be the
answer to the high carbon emissions of the transport sector, a lower emitting
fuel that was a mature technology – unlike electric or hydrogen cars. In the
early 2000s the Blair government threw its weight behind the sector by changing
‘road tax’ (vehicle excise duty) to a CO2-based system, which favoured diesel
cars as they generally had lower CO2 emissions than petrol versions.
It inspired British car makers to
invest heavily in a manufacturing process that most countries outside Europe
have ignored. In 1994 the UK car fleet was only 7.4% diesel. By 2013 there were
10.1m diesel cars in the UK, 34.5% of the total.
But studies have since shown that
diesel cars’ emissions of other pollutants can have serious impacts on the
health of people exposed to them.
Now the European Union is
scrambling to reduce the impact of its massive diesel industry on the health of
its citizens. Carmakers have had some success in cutting the particulate matter
of their engines, but according to recent independent testing, NOx levels remain
stubbornly high.
A Channel 4 documentary in January
called the subsidisation of the diesel industry the “great car
con”. In the programme the current shadow environment minister Barry
Gardiner MP, who was a member of the Blair government, admitted the policy was a
mistake.
“Hands up, can I say there’s
absolutely no question that the decision we took was the wrong decision.”
In 2014 the European commission
took the UK to court for regularly exceeding NOx limits in 16 zones from London
to Glasgow.
In an attempt to restore consumer
confidence the car industry has produced leaflets (available at car markers and
dealerships) as well as a “myth-busting” website. The campaign shows the growth
of the diesel market and claims success for car makers in reducing emissions of
NOx, particulate matter and CO2.
Mike Hawes, SMMT chief executive,
says: “Today’s diesel engines are the cleanest ever, and the culmination of
billions of pounds of investment by manufacturers to improve air quality ... The
allegations against diesel cars made in recent months threaten to misguide
policy making and undermine public confidence in diesel. It’s time to put the
record straight.”
But the claims of the industry have
been criticised by experts who say the numbers cited by car makers are based on
a test that does not represent real-world conditions. For official standards,
diesel cars have their emissions tested in a laboratory, but recent testing by
the International Council on Clean Transportation found:
On average,
real-world NOx emissions from the tested vehicles were about seven times higher
than the limits set by the Euro-6 standard. If applied to the entire new vehicle
fleet, this would correspond to an on-road level of about 560 mg/km of NOx
(compared to the regulatory limit under Euro 6 of 80 mg/km).
The Euro-6 regulations require a
real-world test to be introduced, but the timing of this is still being debated.
Greg Archer from campaign group Transport & Environment says the car
industry has successfully lobbied the European commission to have the likely
date for an introduction moved back from 2017 to 2020.
“They’ve based it on limits and
tests which are carried out in laboratories and don’t represent the amount of
pollution that these vehicles actually produce on the road. And they know
that.
“Carmakers are trying to greenwash
dirty diesel to hide the truth that compared to a petrol car a typical new
diesel car on the road emits 10 times more nitrogen oxides. While carmakers
claim modern diesels are clean they are pushing to delay and weaken the
introduction of new pollution tests. This is because most new diesels can’t
reach the limits agreed back in 2007 without fitting new technology,” says
Archer.
An SMMT spokeswoman denied the
industry was pushing back on real-world testing. To the contrary, she said, they
were very supportive of getting the regime in place “as soon as
possible”.
“We are waiting for a finalised
communication from the European commission, which will set the parameters for
the real-world testing. Until we have sight of that, manufacturers cannot
commence the additional engineering investment required with any degree of
certainty.”
Ben Barratt, an air pollution
expert from King’s College London, says the early implementation of the new test
is critical for the success of the regulations.
“In the absense of a real-world
test we have to question these figures because history shows us that past
performance has not delivered,” says Barrett.
“The sooner the real-world test
comes in the better, without doubt. Because we will not know whether to trust
the Euro-6 figures until that test comes in. Cities around Europe are reliant on
Euro-6 delivering the reductions it is supposed to. If Euro-6 doesn’t deliver
then many parts of Europe, including London and other cities in the UK, will
continue to fail to meet European Union air quality standards.”
Councils around the country are
beginning to take action to discourage their residents from buying diesel
cars. Islington council will introduce a £96 per year diesel vehicle parking
surcharge on 1 April. It will be the highest charge of its kind in the country
and one of the first such schemes introduced.
Councillor Claudia Webbe said:
“Pollutants in diesel exhausts have been linked to heart and lung diseases,
which are major causes of serious and long-term health issues and even death in
Islington, and the surcharge will encourage a move away from diesel.”
But Hawes said the charges made “no
sense from an environmental point of view” citing the results from the tests the
car industry agrees are flawed. The chairman and managing director of Ford of
Britain, Mark Ovenden, says the charges are an unnecessary interference in the
market.
“We support customer choice and the
market should determine the best technologies for meeting CO2 and air quality
goals,” he says.
But the car market is far from
even. The carbon emissions tax regime currently levies £180 on a new
petrol-powered Ford Mondeo. The rate for the diesel version is £0. Last month
the UK government rejected an environmental audit committee recommendation to
remove the tax advantage enjoyed by diesel cars. Signalling it remained
supportive of the diesel industry.
The SMMT document also says that
the furore over diesel’s contribution to air pollution is overblown, given the
relatively small contribution (14%) cars make to the nation’s overall NOx
emissions. There is a large misconception over who is the real villain, says the
website. More than half of those survey by YouGov incorrectly identified cars
and commercial vehicles as the biggest cause of air pollution in the UK.
“It would take 42m Euro-6 diesel
cars (almost four times the number on the roads) to generate the same amount of
NOx as one UK coal-fired power station,” says the Diesel Facts website.
But Archer says this is “another
example of the car industry greenwashing the figures”. Where the pollution is
occuring is more important than how much, he says.
“The pollution that comes out of
[power stations] is highly disperesed. It’s rather different when you’re a child
in a push chair being pushed along a curb breathing in the exhaust fues which
are coming out of the cars standing next to you. So in terms of exposure to
pollution, vehicles are far, far more important than power stations are.”
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