The EU is set to weaken a proposed car pollution legislation after lobbying from the automotive industry.
As reported by the Guardian, Consortium for Ultra-low Vehicle Emissions (Clove) argued the EU needs to strengthen car pollution legislation Euro 7 after finding that financial savings from the new standards on car emissions will be lost due to damage caused by excess nitrogen dioxide.
Clove found the costs for the industry to produce cleaner vehicles – estimated at about £26 billion (€30billion) – would be far less than the expected £158 billion (€182 billion) benefit to the EU that stronger restrictions on nitrogen dioxide could have brought.
While Clove argued for the EU to tighten up legislation, the automotive industry lobbied to reforms to be watered down.
Volvo head of public affairs Matthias Johansson told the Guardian that a stringent Euro 7 would require “committing resources and engineers back to combustion engine technology which will become obsolete in just a few years from now.”
Subscribe to Sustainability Beat for free
Sign up here to get the latest sustainability news sent straight to your inbox everyday
The Guardian and Voxeurop found emails and minutes revealing extensive lobbying by the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (Acea) to influence these pollution regulations.
A secret meeting in June 2022 between a representative of the European commissioner Thierry Breton and the then-chair of Acea, who is also the CEO of BMW, Oliver Zipse reportedly led to the commission adopting emission limits recommended by the industry, contrary to the advice of Clove experts.
The European Commission and Acea confirmed that the June 2022 meeting had taken place.
An Acea spokesperson said: “Acea did indeed refer to proposals for Euro 7, which had been sent to Commissioner Breton.”
A commission spokesperson commented: “The Euro 7 proposal is not the result of the requests from one stakeholder, but rather the fruit of a careful examination … following a very wide consultation with all stakeholders.”
