site.btaGreen Campaign Group: "Dirty Diesels Heading East"
NW 15:43:01 10-04-2018
LN1541NW.001
118 - ENVIRONMENT - DIESELS - IMPORT - TRANSPORT AND ENVIRONMENT
Green Campaign Group:
"Dirty Diesels
Heading East"
Brussels, April 9 (BTA) - 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 and Eastern EU Member States, the Brussels-based green campaign group Transport & Environment writes in an article April 9. 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, the group says.
The article focuses on Bulgaria as it holds the rotating Presidency of the EU, has declared tackling air pollution as a priority for its term, and is hosting April 10 an informal ministerial meeting to debate measures for improving the quality of air Europeans are breathing - and says Bulgaria "risks being swamped with the grossly polluting diesels".
Transport & Environment has calculated for the first time the exact numbers of what it calls "dirty diesels" that are being imported into Bulgaria and the toxic pollution they bring. The new data shows that over 35,000 dirty diesels were exported to Bulgaria in 2017 alone, emitting more than 12 times the allowed limits. This was over a third of all secondhand cars imported from EU -28 countries.
More than half of these diesels are over 10 years old and without the standard diesel particle filters found on all new cars after 2011, thus emitting dangerous cancer - causing fine particles that are already a serious problem in Bulgaria. As for toxic nitrogen dioxide, which was at the heart of the dieselgate scandal, the dirty diesels imported to Bulgaria last year on average emit 12 times the current EUТs nitrogen dioxide limit Ц or 1,030 mg/km instead of the required 80mg/km (for cars on sale today). That means that an average dirty diesel car imported in 2017 would emit 10 - 15 kg of nitrogen dioxide pollution in one year (based on the annual mileage of 10,000 -15,000 km).
Most cars came from Italy with the Fiat- Chrysler group being on average the most grossly polluting diesel carmaker in Europe, the article says.
Transport & Environment argues that there is a clear need for joint European measures to avoid second hand dirty diesels being dumped in Eastern and Central European countries. "This is against the principle of the Single Market and the spirit of its product rules - all EU citizens have equal right to clean air. The flow of old polluting diesels must be limited in a way that protects the environment and public health and is aligned with the Single Market rules." LN/
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LN1541NW.001
118 - ENVIRONMENT - DIESELS - IMPORT - TRANSPORT AND ENVIRONMENT
Green Campaign Group:
"Dirty Diesels
Heading East"
Brussels, April 9 (BTA) - 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 and Eastern EU Member States, the Brussels-based green campaign group Transport & Environment writes in an article April 9. 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, the group says.
The article focuses on Bulgaria as it holds the rotating Presidency of the EU, has declared tackling air pollution as a priority for its term, and is hosting April 10 an informal ministerial meeting to debate measures for improving the quality of air Europeans are breathing - and says Bulgaria "risks being swamped with the grossly polluting diesels".
Transport & Environment has calculated for the first time the exact numbers of what it calls "dirty diesels" that are being imported into Bulgaria and the toxic pollution they bring. The new data shows that over 35,000 dirty diesels were exported to Bulgaria in 2017 alone, emitting more than 12 times the allowed limits. This was over a third of all secondhand cars imported from EU -28 countries.
More than half of these diesels are over 10 years old and without the standard diesel particle filters found on all new cars after 2011, thus emitting dangerous cancer - causing fine particles that are already a serious problem in Bulgaria. As for toxic nitrogen dioxide, which was at the heart of the dieselgate scandal, the dirty diesels imported to Bulgaria last year on average emit 12 times the current EUТs nitrogen dioxide limit Ц or 1,030 mg/km instead of the required 80mg/km (for cars on sale today). That means that an average dirty diesel car imported in 2017 would emit 10 - 15 kg of nitrogen dioxide pollution in one year (based on the annual mileage of 10,000 -15,000 km).
Most cars came from Italy with the Fiat- Chrysler group being on average the most grossly polluting diesel carmaker in Europe, the article says.
Transport & Environment argues that there is a clear need for joint European measures to avoid second hand dirty diesels being dumped in Eastern and Central European countries. "This is against the principle of the Single Market and the spirit of its product rules - all EU citizens have equal right to clean air. The flow of old polluting diesels must be limited in a way that protects the environment and public health and is aligned with the Single Market rules." LN/
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