The EU clamps down on car pollution testing!
The European Union (EU) will require road testing from 2017 to evaluate car pollution, as road testing is seen to be a crucial complement to lab testing.
Environmental groups fear that the approach is still to weak. Claiming that the proposed system for the EU panders to the car industry.
The European Parliament’s environmental committee rejected the plans, but the rest of the legislature failed to follow suit. Only 317 lawmakers voted against the measure, falling short of the 376 veto vote threshold.
“We have avoided uncertainties, because industry now has strict but sustainable deadlines to meet,”
said Giovanni La Via, the chairman of the environmental committee.
“Automobile manufacturers welcome the much-needed clarity,”
added Erik Jonnaert, the secretary general of the European automobile manufacturers’ association. He further noted that the higher degree of testing and regulations will be a “major challenge” for the motor industry.
All new diesel cars will have to be tested for nitrogen oxide on the road as well as in the laboratory
“By better reflecting the actual level of emissions in real driving conditions, these tests will reduce the net amount of air pollution emitted by diesel cars,”
European Commission spokeswoman Lucia Caudet said.
“As the portable emissions measurement technology improves, we will continue tightening the screws,” she added.
Critics however, argued that the proposed approach increases the permitted levels of nitrogen oxide – a pollutant that can cause lung cancer, asthma and other respiratory diseases.
There is also some leeway for manufacturers to adjust to the new rules and to allow some room for margin of error, while transitioning.
Green EU parliamentarian Bas Eickhout, however, spoke of, “A failure to act on the silent killer that is air pollution.”
Source: IOL