Europe’s Love Affair With Diesel Cars Has Been a Disaster
23rd October 2015
Last month’s news that Volkswagen had been illegally rigging its diesel-powered cars to cheat on pollution tests has sparked all sorts of outrage. Hearings, lawsuits, fines, general opprobrium. And rightly so; the company’s deception was appalling.
But there’s a broader, more consequential problem here that a lot of coverage has danced around or hinted at only indirectly. So let’s say it: Europe’s promotion of diesel vehicles as a green transportation option has been a disaster thus far — for reasons that go well beyond the Volkswagen scandal.
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One main drawback of diesel cars is that they can emit higher levels of other harmful air pollutants like particulates and nitrogen oxides. And those ended up being much harder to clean up than experts initially predicted. We now know that Europe’s regulators have failed spectacularly to control diesel pollution, relying on weak rules and flimsy testing procedures. Lots and lots of automakers — not just Volkswagen — have been manufacturing diesel cars that emit far more gunk than they’re supposed to. It’s one reason why cities like London and Paris are still clogged with unhealthy levels of air pollution, causing thousands of premature deaths each year.