More and more European cities want to ban diesel vehicles. Elżbieta Bieńkowska, euro commissioner for industry, warns that this could, however, backfire on attempts to make cars in Europe more sustainable.
Bieńkowska writes this in a confidential letter addressed to European ministers that is in the hands of the Financial Times. Paris, Madrid and Athens have announced plans to ban diesel vehicles from 2025. Stuttgart wants to ban diesel vehicles from next year on days when air pollution is high. In addition, the Netherlands has for some time had environmental zones in Rotterdam and Utrecht, among others, where older diesel vehicles are no longer welcome. According to CBS, this has resulted in the number of diesel vehicles built before 2001 on Dutch roads decreasing by 34,000.
Counterproductive effect
Bieńkowska thus sees little point in such bans and argues that this could actually backfire on attempts to get car manufacturers to produce more sustainable vehicles. Bieńkowska's position is diametrically opposed to that of environmental organisations, which actually see a ban on diesel vehicles as a powerful means of reducing CO2 emissions in European cities and forcing car manufacturers to produce more sustainable vehicles.
Bieńkowska fears negative side effects. The euro commissioner points, among other things, to the recent diesel scandal, in which diesel engines are found to emit more in practice than they are stated on paper by manufacturers. This involves the use of software also known as 'tampering software'. This software automatically detects that the vehicle has been placed on a test bench and adjusts the operation of the diesel engine such that lower CO2 emissions are achieved.
Initially, this tampering software was discovered in Volkswagen vehicles. Since then, however, the use of such software by carmakers Porsche, Fiat Chrysler, Suzuki, Daimler, Audi and General Motors, among others, has also been investigated. Bieńkowska argues that a ban on diesel vehicles in European cities again comes as a blow to diesel vehicle owners.
Tax break
In addition, European Union officials tell the Financial Times that Bieńkowska is concerned that citizens in some European countries have been tempted to buy diesel vehicles with tax breaks. In the Netherlands, for example, tax breaks were given on diesel vehicles until 2014 by exempting them from road tax. In addition, France announced in 2015 that it would phase out tax benefits for diesel vehicles. Bieńkowska said a ban on diesel vehicles would prevent citizens from driving their recently purchased diesel vehicles anywhere in Europe, even though they have been encouraged by local governments to purchase them.
Bieńkowska also fears that such a ban could cause the market for diesel vehicles to collapse. This causes financial damage to car manufacturers, while governments want to encourage them to invest in sustainable fuel technology.
'No interest in rapid collapse'
"While I am convinced that we should move quickly towards zero-emission vehicles in Europe, policymakers and industry cannot have any interest in a rapid collapse of the European diesel market through local driving bans," Bieńkowska writes in her letter addressed to European ministers.
Bieńkowska therefore wants regulators to take stricter action against vehicles that do not comply with European emissions directives and to give manufacturers more incentives to make diesel vehicles more sustainable. This includes not only the development of new diesel vehicles, but also recalls for existing diesel vehicles that emit more in practice than on paper.
By: Wouter Hoeffnagel
Source: Financial Times
Source: CBS
