London, Paris Debut Scoring Scheme for Vehicle Emissions

The cities of London and Paris are adopting an emission rating system to help buyers identify the market’s cleanest—and dirtiest—diesel and gasoline cars and vans.

The scores will be based on real-world tests of vehicles on city streets conducted by the U.K.’s Emission Analytics and the U.S.-based International Council on Clean Transportation. Reuters reports that Seoul also plans to try the rating scheme.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan says the scores are intended as an alternative to “unrealistic” results from the laboratory-based test procedures required by European regulators.

The ratings will be available via a website dubbed the Cleaner Vehicle Checker, which will be launched this autumn. The cities say several other municipalities may adopt a similar system through C40 Cities, a global coalition of megacities working to affect climate change through local initiatives.

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, who chairs C40, says launching local ratings constitutes a “wakeup call” to car companies that they can no longer “hide behind inconsistent regulation and consumer uncertainty about the damage their cars are causing.”