Strengthening testing of cars after they have been sold and are on the road, in-service conformity testing, is an essential part of cleaning up vehicle emissions and ensuring cars work on the road as they do in the test. This letter outlines how T&E would like to strengthen proposals from the European Commission that are soon to be agreed with member states.
The pressure of civil society forced the European Commission to rethink its approach on investor-state-dispute-settlement (ISDS), resulting in the reformed investment court system (ICS), and the current multilateral investment court (MIC). The purported added value of the MIC is to render investment protection more transparent and accountable, and put an end to the controversial ISDS. This briefing outlines T&E's position on MIC.
Countries will meet at the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law this week, in the UN’s famous New York City building, to discuss modernising the mechanism that enables foreign firms to sue governments for what they perceive as unfair policy measures that can harm future profits. This is commonly known as investor-state dispute settlement, or ISDS. The European Commission’s proposal to reform this archaic system will form the core of the discussions.
With drivers ditching their diesel cars in view of an increasing number of city bans and low-emissions zones in Western Europe, many of these dirty cars now end up in Central & Eastern EU Member States. This means the air quality problems will be exported, not solved, thus deepening the East-West divide that already exists on air quality in Europe. Bulgaria is case in point. This briefing details the impact of dirty diesels heading east to Bulgaria.
New mobility services like Uber and Lyft offer the potential to get cities moving, improve quality of life and reduce emissions. But this will only happen if new and traditional mobility services can be integrated to make a more attractive offering that finally persuades drivers out of their cars, write Greg Archer and Yoann Le Petit.
New mobility services and business models are changing urban transport, affecting both the supply and demand sides of urban mobility market. Evidence shows that these developments can lead to a significant reduction of single occupancy private car use and an increase of public transport use, leading to a strong reduction in congestion, local air pollution, and CO2 emissions. Despite their long term potential, the growth and development of new mobility services are often hampered by existing market access restrictions, operational requirements and financial disincentives. This joint position paper outlines the key recommendations from 10 organisations engaged in promoting new mobility. They are: BMW Group, car2go, European Cyclists' Federation, Mobility Nation, nextbike, Siemens, Transport & Environment, Uber, and the City of Vilnius.
More than 90% of new Euro 6 diesels on sale today that don’t meet the EU emission limits on the road are still exempt from low emission zones (LEZs) or diesel bans in European cities, a new briefing by Transport & Environment (T&E) reveals. These Euro 6 diesels still exceed the nitrogen oxides (NOx) limit by 4 to 5 times while some models up to 10 times higher, notably Renault, Fiat and Opel models. Some Euro 6 vehicles emit more NOx on the road than Euro 4 and 5 cars that are banned.Versión en Español aquí.
In 2018 the EU will develop a budget for the 2021-2027 period. The current budget earmarks €100 billion for investment in transport infrastructure, as well as research and innovation. Nevertheless, emissions continue to rise from the sector and represent 27% of Europe’s total greenhouse gas emissions. Spending should prioritise addressing this worrying trend, investing in infrastructure that helps reduce such emissions. Furthermore, the most polluting means of transport could become new own resources for the EU budget, which would help to reduce emissions and fill the EU budget gap that will be left after the UK exits the EU. Read more in our responses to the European Commission’s open consultations on the EU budget.
- Following on from the real-world fuel economy measurements, the protocol developed by Groupe PSA, T&E, FNE and Bureau Veritas has been adapted to measure NOx and particulate emissions in real driving conditions
- Measures tested on recent Peugeot, Citroën and DS cars show excellent results for both NOx and particulate number emissions
- They reflect Groupe PSA’s undertaking to introduce – in 2017, three years ahead of 2020 European emissions standards – vehicles meeting the standards’ RDE conformity factor of 1.5.
- Dans la continuité des mesures de consommation de carburant en usage réel, le protocole développé par le Groupe PSA, T&E, FNE et Bureau Veritas a été étendu aux mesures des émissions de polluants (NOx, particules) en conditions réelles d’utilisation
- Les mesures réalisées sur des véhicules Peugeot, Citroën et DS, de faible kilométrage, présentent des résultats excellents aussi bien pour les émissions de NOx1 que pour les particules en nombre
- Ces résultats reflètent l’engagement pris par le Groupe PSA de lancer dès 2017, soit avec 3 ans d’avance, des véhicules respectant le facteur de conformité RDE de 1,5 fixé par la réglementation européenne 2020
