Air pollution standards for non-road engines

April 16, 2013

This paper is a response from Transport & Environment to the ‘Consultation on the revision of Directive 97/68 on emissions from non-road mobile machinery engines’ by the European Commission.

Our key points are:

  •  Given serious persistent air quality problems in Europe, Euro VI levels for heavy duty onroad engines should serve as a benchmark for new standards for NRMM. We are concerned with the much lower ambition levels hinted at in the consultation document.
  • In particular there is a need to solve the problem of diesel particles, and related black carbon, once and for all by introducing Euro VI equivalent standards for particle number count for all engines covered;
  • The scope of the legislation should be extended to also cover engines below 37kW and above 560 kW, and by also including stationary applications (e.g. diesel generators, air conditioning engines);
  • Following developments in standards for the on-road sector, we would prefer moving towards a regulation instead of a directive;
  • Standards should be fuel-neutral.
  • Greenhouse gas emissions (CO2 and CH4) should be measured and reported;
  • Exemptions, flexibilities etc. should be cut drastically so that it is impossible to sell machinery equipped engines complying with an old standard a limited time after entry into force of the standard;
  • In-service emissions need to be a top priority. As a minimum, relevant provisions of Euro VI legislation should be copied to also cover non-road engines;
  • Emissions from existing engines need to be addressed;
  • Transparency should be ensured by mandatory public

Related Articles

View All