European Commission uncovers evidence of carmakers manipulating CO2 emissions tests

Auto manufacturers may be inflating their vehicles’ officially-declared CO₂ emissions to lower the ambition of passengers cars’ and vans’ pollution reduction targets, according to an internal European Commission paper. The document, published by Transport & Environment (T&E), a federation of non-government organisations, outlines evidence from the Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC). CO₂ targets for next decade will be determined based on a percentage reduction from a 2021 starting point, meaning manufacturers are declaring their initial emissions values to be higher than they actually are, the centre’s research reveals. Summarising JRC’s evidence, Euractiv reports that carmakers had installed depleted batteries to raise fuel consumption and switched off test models’ stop-start function. “After Dieselgate, carmakers promised to change and that new tests were the solution. Now it’s clear they’re using these new tests to undermine the already weak CO₂ standards,” T&E Executive Director William Todts said.

Read the paper published by T&E in English here and the Euractiv article in English here.

For background, read the dossier The Energiewende and German carmakers and the article German environment ministry pushes for tougher EU car emission rules.