Air Quality in the North West

Air quality in the North West is improving. We have substantially reduced emissions from regulated industrial sites, but traffic is still causing air quality problems in our major cities.

Traffic in the Region has increased by 20% in the last 10 years. There are almost 3 million cars travelling on the North West's roads and this is causing air quality problems, particularly at peak travelling times.

Emissions

The motor vehicle engine emits many types of pollutants including nitrogen oxides (NOx), volatile organic compounds (VOCs), carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2), particulates, sulphur dioxide (SO2) and lead. Individually, a vehicle engine is not a particularly important source of pollution. Collectively however, they represent a major source of air pollutants in the UK.

EU Strategy to reduce CO2 emissions from passenger cars and light commercial vehicles 2007

Friends of the Earth asks for the following principles to be followed:

• The community's long standing objective of average fleet emissions of 120g/km by 2012 should be achieved by fuel efficiency improvements alone;

• Any further measures should add to this target and not be part of it;

• Further long term mandatory targets of at least 80g/km by 2020 should be set;

• No differentiation between vehicles should be allowed that will increase a vehicle's emissions;

• The opportunity should be taken to restrict the top speeds of cars and the advertising of cars with high emissions.

Limits on the emissions of new cars and vans sold in the European Union has finally been put forward by the European Commission (EC) after a two-week delay.

The legislation, if adopted by member states, would make it mandatory for new cars sold in the EU to produce on average 120 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometre travelled by 2012. Vehicles currently emit an average of 163 g/km.

The move follows the poor performance with regard to voluntary targets set in 1999. At the time, European carmakers were asked to reach a 140 g/km target by 2008, while Japanese and Korean industries were set the same target for 2009.