The European Parliament has voted put an end to the loopholes that it conceded to carmakers managed following the ‘Dieselgate’ scandal.

In 2016, carmakers managed to convince the EU Commission and Member States they were unable to comply with the legal limits for nitrogen oxides (NOx) in new on-road tests. As a result, policymakers relaxed emission limits through so called “conformity factors”. Thanks to these exemptions, cars were allowed to emit 2.1 times over the legal NOx limit of 80 mg per km (hence up to 168mg NOx/km) until the end of 2020, and 43 per cent more (up to 114mg/km) with no set end date. Now this will end on in September 2022 at the latest.

Alex Keynes, clean vehicles manager at Transport & Environment, said “Allowing carmakers to pollute more because their cars are polluting is like telling the police to stand down because the robbers are already in the bank. The health of thousands of Europeans is at risk because of air pollution. Carmakers have the means to meet nitrogen oxide limits in the real world, so this scandalous exemption must be stopped without further delay.”

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