The proposed regulation for so-called 'Euro VI' standards for exhaust emissions from heavy vehicles should set a cap for nitrogen oxide (NOx) at 500 mg/kWh, rather than at 400mg/kWh as initially suggested by the Commission, voted MEPs on 15 July. This would represent a 75% reduction compared to the Euro V standards due to enter into force in 2009, rather than an 80% cut.
MEPs also agreed with the Commission that emissions of particularly harmful particulate matter should be limted to 10 mg/kWh, rejecting German Socialist rapporteur Matthias Groote's suggestion that this should be cut to 5 mg/kWh. Groote's proposal would indeed have required all new heavy vehicles to be fitted with expensive closed particle filters.
What's more, according to MEPs, any more stringent targets would be counterproductive as they would probably lead to an increase in CO2 emissions – contradicting Europe's goal of cutting CO2 emissions by at least 20% before 2020 and becoming a "low-carbon economy" (see LinksDossier on energy & climate change package). They say the compromise will lead to a "win-win solution" on both air pollutants and greenhouse gases.
But in fact, it is the Euro standards – and not CO2 – that are to be used as part of a new EU strategy for greening road transport. Indeed, Commission proposals, presented last week, foresee a revision of the current Eurovignette Directive on tolls for trucks to allow national governments to include pollution costs in their toll tariffs. But pollution costs would be based only on vehicles' Euro emissions class type and not on their CO2 emissions.
Nevertheless, a number of MEPs have already announced their intention to challenge this.
MEPs also said new Euro VI standards should come into effect from the start of 2014 – nine months earlier than the Commission is proposing. This would mean they would be applied in parallel to 'Euro 5 and Euro 6' standards for passenger cars, which are due to enter into force in 2009 and 2014 respectively (see our LinksDossier on Euro 5 emissions for cars).
The Euro standards are part of a broader strategy on clean air, which aims to reduce illnesses and cut the number of premature deaths related to pollutant emissions from 370,000 a year in 2000 to 320,000 a year in 2020. This would also save the EU at least €42 billion per year in health costs, according to the Commission (see our LinksDossier on the EU's clean air strategy).
