Europe Likely to Adopt Weakened Emission Goals

The European Parliament appears likely to adopt a weakened plan on Wednesday to require real-world vehicle emissions to more closely match levels measured in certification tests.

Bloomberg News reports EU governments and carmakers are lobbying heavily to adopt a compromise rule that would reduce the emission gap for nitrogen oxides to 110% between September 2017 and January 2020, then permit a 50% difference indefinitely. The measure targets diesels, which power half the vehicles in Europe.

A tougher version proposed last autumn by the EC’s environmental commission would limit the gap to 60% until 2020 and then require on-the-road emissions to match results in laboratory-based certification tests. Carmakers argue the tougher standard would be too expensive and disruptive.

Backers of the weaker rules argue that rejecting them would delay implementing any change in the current system, where the gap in NOx emissions can balloon by a factor of four, for about two years. Opponents say the compromise goals signal a lack of commitment by the EU to take its own emission standards seriously.

Bloomberg notes that Industry Commission Elzbieta Bienkowska, who backs the compromise rules, has vowed to revisit the 50% allowance and push to enforce the EU's legal limits by 2023.