The European commission is consulting the public on changes to European rules on vehicle emissions standards, the so-called 3rd package on Real Driving Emissions (RDE). The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) has submitted a joint response with the European Respiratory Society (ERS), the European COPD Coalition (ECC) and the European Public Health Alliance (EPHA).
The response welcomes the changes as a ‘timely step’ to address the growing problem of particulate emissions from new generation vehicles which emit many more particles in real world driving conditions than permitted under current rules.
A major report was launched earlier this year by the RCP and the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health entitled ‘Every breath we take: the lifelong impact of air pollution’, which called for the strengthening of emissions testing for cars among its recommendations for action.