South West MEP Julie Girling is working to ensure that new and realistic vehicle exhaust-gas tests are not delayed in the wake of the VW emissions scandal.
She is warning today that a rejection by MEPs this week of changes to car emissions testing procedures would only hold up improvements to air quality. The European Parliament will tomorrow (Wednesday) vote on a proposal to block the introduction of so-called “Real Driving Emissions” (RDE) testing.
RDE tests aim to ensure that emissions tests take place in real-world operating conditions, and will help address the problem of high nitrogen dioxide emissions from diesel vehicles. This is a big change from the current “Type Approval” testing which only uses laboratory tests.
A committee of experts has said that real-world emissions of Nitrogen Dioxide should be phased in between 2017 and 2020 but has not identified an end date by which a variance from the norm would be set at zero. The blocking proposal has been put forward by Green and Labour MEPs who claim that these limits are excessive.
Mrs Girling, Conservative Environment Spokesman in the parliament, said: “Concerns about the limits proposed are valid, but blocking the whole process of moving to RDE would be throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Instead, the concerns about emissions should be dealt with in parallel to the new tests being introduced. There is a review clause in place that will allow this to happen.”
“RDE for new cars will bring clear reductions in emissions of Nitrogen Dioxide and improve air quality therefore delaying its introduction by months, or even years, is not the right response. Emissions testing rules have not changed for almost thirty years, and it is vital that the European Parliament endorses this latest step towards improving the testing regime.”
