Improving air quality while giving industry room to breathe

“We have reached a balanced solution for the new Euro 7 emissions standard that will improve air quality for our citizens while preventing an additional burden on industry, which already has to cope with the switch to electric mobility. Despite what the Greens and Socialists think, protecting health and giving industry room to breathe is not incompatible!” said Jens Gieseke MEP, the EPP Group's negotiator on the Euro 7 rules.

His comments come as the representatives from the European Parliament and the Member States have just reached an agreement on these new rules, which aim to reduce both exhaust and non-exhaust emissions from road vehicles.

“The established Euro 6 testing conditions will be maintained, thereby avoiding high adaptation costs for the industry. However, particularly for heavy-duty vehicles such as trucks or buses, we have enforced stricter limits on the two most significant air pollutants, nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter," he explained.

Additionally, the text now limits significantly smaller particles (with a diameter of less than or equal to 10 nanometres) in particulate matter. This already achieves a notable improvement in air quality.

With the increasing market penetration of electric vehicles, emissions will continue to decrease in the coming years, contributing to a diminishing share of air pollution. “Instead, emissions from brake and tyre wear will represent the largest source of particulate matter. The new Euro 7 standard is a milestone: for the first time, limits will also be imposed on brake and tyre wear emissions,” Gieseke explained.

“Furthermore, with an ambitious regulation of batteries for electric cars, we are making the standard future-proof: after 160,000 kilometres or eight years, car batteries must still achieve a minimum performance of 72 per cent. This strengthens trust in the technology and provides consumers with confidence!" he concluded.