Recommendations for post-Euro 6 standards for light-duty vehicles in the European Union

Despite policymakers’ efforts in past decades, approximately one eighth of the European Union’s urban population is exposed to air pollutant levels exceeding European air quality standards. While this statistic is not particularly alarming, the picture changes when the pollution levels are compared against the World Health Organization’s air quality guidelines: 96% of Europeans living in urban areas are exposed to unsafe levels of air pollution.

Motor vehicle emissions and their link to air pollution have been recognized as a serious issue. This is not only due to the health effects associated with direct exposure to vehicle emissions, but also, and more importantly, because of their role as precursors for the formation of PM2.5 and ozone at ground level. Cognizant of the role of motor vehicle emissions on the persistent air quality challenges, the European Commission is turning its attention to the development of post-Euro 6 emission standards.

The report highlights the limitations of current emissions standards and provides detailed recommendations to overcome them. The recommendations cover several topics where the current light-duty vehicle emission standards should be strengthened. These topics include the emission of regulated, unregulated, and climate forcing pollutants; the testing regimes, data evaluation methods, and boundary conditions for demonstrating compliance with type-approval and in-service conformity testing; and measures to improve the durability, emissions performance, and compliance with the standards throughout the useful life of the vehicles.

With this report, the ICCT seeks to bring attention to a long list of important issues. The breadth and depth of topics that must be addressed in the coming months will require uninterrupted efforts of the Commission, its contractors, and all other stakeholders invested in reducing the environmental impact of road transport.

Summary of recommendations for post-Euro 6 standards

Attachments
LDV_post_Euro6_fact_sheet_20191003.pdf

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