Over the next few days, heads of industry and heads of state will gather in Paris to address the issue of global climate change. COP21 – the 21st Conference of the Parties – will take place at the end of November and early December amidst heightened security and, for the automotive industry, heightened scrutiny.
The automotive industry has long claimed that it has done more to improve fuel economy and reduce emissions than any other sector, and that it is time for some of those other industries to step up and take similar action.
At the Frankfurt motor show in September, Renault-Nissan Chief Executive and ACEA President Carlos Ghosn called on other industries to recognise and mirror the work done by the automotive industry; and in an exclusive Automotive World editorial, ACEA Secretary General Erik Jonnaert recently wrote, “No other industry has done as much as Europe’s automotive sector to drive down CO2 emissions in recent years.”
The VW Group emissions scandal has brought right into the mainstream a fascinating and much-needed debate around emissions and emissions testing
With reams of evidence to support these claims, the automotive industry was all set to stand strong at COP21.
Now, though, such arguments will be more difficult to make. The VW Group emissions scandal has brought right into the mainstream a fascinating and much-needed debate around emissions and emissions testing.
Current emissions ratings – and the testing methodologies behind those ratings – have been viewed with increasing scepticism for several years, and the defeat device scandal has only served to strengthen the calls for change. “They’re all at it”, “I wouldn’t trust anything they say now” and “No-one really believed the ratings anyway” are typical comments heard in ‘civilian’ (ie non-automotive) social circles made by people who know nothing about the industry.
These people, remember, are car buyers.
This week, a UK TV documentary claimed to demonstrate that VW’s defeat device beats European emissions tests; furthermore, the BBC Panorama investigation raised questions about the NOx emissions of an Opel Zafira; and separately, German lobby group DUH accused Renault’s Espace of emitting higher NOx levels in real world tests than under lab conditions.
As all eyes turn to the Paris Climate Change Conference, it’s essential they don’t overlook the automotive industry
In a bid to regain consumer trust, PSA announced it will work with Transport & Environment (T&E), submitting its vehicles for on-road efficiency and emissions tests carried out by the Brussels-based NGO. PSA openly admits its approach is a reaction to the defeat device scandal.
And following up on his recent Automotive World editorial, Jonnaert and ACEA this week published a position paper to reaffirm the automotive industry’s commitment to further reducing CO2 emissions from both vehicles and production processes.
Clearly, meeting emissions regulations is a challenge for OEMs – why else go to such apparently elaborate lengths to meet or cheat them? The OEMs need to regain the trust of their customers – and the automotive industry needs to demonstrate that everything really has been done to improve fuel economy and emissions. As all eyes turn to the Paris Climate Change Conference, it’s essential they don’t overlook the automotive industry.
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Martin Kahl is Editor, Automotive World
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