• Parliament says Europe must wait until 2015 for clean diesels; America gets them this week

    Mercedes-Benz has this week launched its E320 BlueTec model for sale in America. The car is the first of a new-generation of diesels that meet strict new American emissions standards and would also meet proposed European emissions standards that the European Parliament has said shouldn’t come into force before 2015.

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    [mailchimp_signup][/mailchimp_signup]Transport and Environment (T&E) is calling on the Parliament and European environment ministers to speed up the introduction of the so-called Euro standards, with cleaner Euro 6 standards coming in no later than 2011 rather than the proposed 2015.

    The Parliament will vote on the new standards in their mini-Plenary meeting in Brussels in November. The position of MEPs is close to that of ministers and a final agreement is likely to be reached on the legislation then.

    In a vote in September, the European Parliament’s environment committee voted to delay implementation of Euro-5 standards until September 2009. The committee has also set Euro-6 standards that will not enter into force before September 2014, with implementation not happening before at least September 2015.

    As a result of the vote, EU-registered cars will not be required to reduce their Nitrogen Oxide (NOx) emissions to 70 milligrams per kilometre until 2015. The Mercedes-Benz E320 BlueTec already meets that limit value.

    Jos Dings of T&E said, “Apparently Europe’s cleanest, most innovative diesel engine technology is too good for Europeans. We’ll have to carry on breathing dirty air until 2015, while the Yanks can stroll down to their local Mercedes dealer today and pick up a clean diesel car.”

    Notes to editors:

    A detailed explanation of the proposed Euro standards, and T&E’s position can be downloaded from the T&E website.