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Comparing vehicle emission standards

A report named “Comparative study on the differences between the EU and US legislation on emissions in the automotive sector” was published by the European Parliament in November. It provides an overview of technologies used in vehicles to comply with emission legislation and of differences between the US and EU with regards to emission standards for air pollutants and greenhouse gases; type-approval structures; conformity of production; in-service performance verification; implementation and enforcement of legislation and its impact; and legislation on defeat devices.

The report recommends that:

The flexibility for manufacturers to choose their regulator is removed;
Oversight of implementation of environmental standards is placed in the hands of organisations with a clear environmental mission;
Transparency on the use of emission control devices is improved, with manufacturers required to provide full information on them to regulators, and seek prior approval of the use of any defeat devices under specific derogations;
Greater clarity is provided on the duties of regulators both to monitor in-service performance, and to identify and pursue cases of non-compliance;
Improved EU-level monitoring of the performance of type approval authorities (TAAs) is introduced, with the option of suspending a TAA’s right to issue type-approvals in the event of persistent weaknesses in performance.

The report: www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/STUD/2016/587331/IPOL_STU(2016)587331_EN.pdf

Euro standardsEuropean UnionRoad trafficUS

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Coal project in Croatia stopped

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Comparing vehicle emission standards

In this issue

Livestock on leftovers

Editorial: Another agricultural system is possible

New NEC Directive in force

Big emissions from small chimneys

CCS is still a failure

Global warming and its implications for coral reefs

EU needs to shut all coal plants by 2030

How to get people to eat less meat

Stronger air quality measures needed

Cost-effective to cut ship NOx emissions

Coal project in Croatia stopped

In Breif

Bulgaria faces court for air quality failure

Air pollution linked to fifth of pre-term births

No improvement in fuel efficiency for years

Four of world’s biggest cities to ban diesel cars

Trucks and buses cleaner than diesel cars

China forecasts stable or declining CO2 emissions

US greenhouse gas emissions fell in 2015

Portugal halts oil exploration

Global soil carbon losses in response to warming

WHO air quality guidelines – report

High emissions from chainsaws and trimmers

Chinese ship emission control areas

Publications

The role of northern forests in limiting warming to 1.5°C

Protecting Northern Forests crucial for biodiversity, the climate and indigenous rights

The 100 largest industry emitters in EU-27

Road to Nowhere

Bioenergy CCS – too little, too expensive, and not net negative

Direct air carbon capture and storage - A waste of time and energy

Carbon emissions from the cement industry can be reduced without CCS

Iron and steel emissions, How they can be cut, and why CCS is not a major option

What we do

Air pollution

Climate Change

Policy initiatives

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