RAC Foundation road transport report calls for greater emphasis on air quality
Wed 04 June 2014
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A new report from the RAC Foundation argues that ministers should consider introducing a new scrappage scheme aimed at taking the oldest and most polluting diesel cars off the road. The report, focusing on air quality and road transport, draws attention to the shift to diesel from petrol over the last twenty years.
The report says that it is estimated that poor air quality in the UK currently reduces average life expectancy at birth by six months.
Over the past two decades consumers have increasingly been buying diesels because of the better fuel consumption they achieve compared to petrol powered cars. On a like-for-like basis diesels also emit fewer CO2 emissions.
This shift in buying habits means that of the 28 million cars on the road today, 10 million are diesels. In 1994 there were just 1.6 million diesels.
The report, for the RAC Foundation by the consultants Ricardo-AEA, says that over recent years so-called Euro standards have helped achieve significant reductions in PM emissions from diesels. However these have not been matched by falls in NOx. Only now does the latest set of standards – Euro 6 – offer the prospect of a reduction in this too.
However, because cars have an average life span of more than a decade it will take several years for the newer, cleaner, models to work their way through the fleet.
The RAC Foundation says that for a long time discussion on the environmental impact of vehicles has centred on their carbon emissions with particulate matter and NOx emissions less well understood. The understandable focus on CO2 has led to big changes in consumer buying habits.
The LowCVP recently assessed the air quality implications arising from the adoption of large numbers of low carbon buses. With concerns over air quality on the rise in the UK and elsewhere, the Partnership proposed that its 2014-5 Work Plan will develop an air quality theme in its work, seeking to ensure that air quality benefits also arise from the process of transport decarbonisation.
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