EU considering new limitations on diesel engines in non-road machinery

As air pollution spikes in Europe’s cities prompt car-free days and talk of banning diesel cars, it’s easy to forget the other culprits behind the air quality crisis: diesel machines. Known in legislation by the innocuous term ‘non-road mobile machinery’, their air pollutant emission limits are now finally under revision.
The last directive dated back to 1997 and the new rules will set standards for decades to come. Air pollution is causing more than 450,000 premature deaths every year in Europe and a recent Eurobarometer survey confirmed that air pollution is now the biggest environmental concern of European citizens. Efficient regulation of emissions sources is therefore key to mitigating the exposure of citizens to air pollution.

In spite of the serious health threats, half of the EU member states are now subject to infringement proceedings from the European Commission for not respecting the already lax air quality standards set within the Ambient Air Quality Directive. There is, therefore, little margin for non-road mobile machinery and the new emissions limits should be ambitious and require the latest technologies available to clean up exhaust gases.
The text proposed by the Commission late in 2014 does make some progress towards lowering the emissions of particulate matter for some engine categories. It also widens the engine categories covered by the regulation in a bid to better harmonise with US standards. But the Commission proposal lacks the ambition to close the emissions gap between road and non-road engines. As a consequence, the Commission has put itself in a contradictory position. On the one hand, it wishes to favour modal shift away from trucks and towards trains and inland water vessels as part of its Transport White Paper to promote energy efficiency. On the other hand, the Commission proposes higher emission limits for trains and inland water vessels than the ones already enforced for trucks, hence increasing air pollution if this expected modal shift occurs.
There should not be a trade off between energy efficiency and air pollution, and the Commission should be more consistent and work towards a better harmonisation of all the work proposed. Emissions limits consistent between trucks, diesel trains and inland vessels would avoid this Commission contradiction.
The proposal for non-road mobile machinery is now under scrutiny from the European Council and Parliament. The draft report of the rapporteur was released on 12 May, and instead of ensuring lower pollutant emissions from these engines, the report focused only on giving more time to comply and provided an allowance to fit decade-old engines on existing and future machines. It is true that, despite numerous requests, the rapporteur did not find the time to listen to the views of non-governmental organisations that defend the health of European citizens.