SUMMARY OF ISSUE
Volkswagen’s rigging of emissions tests for 11m cars means they may be responsible for nearly 1m tonnes of air pollution every year, roughly the same as the UK’s combined emissions for all power stations, vehicles, industry and agriculture, a Guardian analysis suggests.
The potential scale of the scandal puts further pressure on Volkswagen’s board and its chief executive, Martin Winterkorn. The company’s executive committee plans to meet on Wednesday to discuss the affair and to agree the agenda of a full board meeting scheduled for Friday, amid reports that Winterkorn could be replaced.
The carmaker has recalled 482,000 VW and Audi brand cars in the US after the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) found models with Type EA 189 engines had been fitted with a device designed to reduce emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) under testing conditions.
A Guardian analysis found those US vehicles would have spewed between 10,392 and 41,571 tonnes of toxic gas into the air each year, if they had covered the average annual US mileage. If they had complied with EPA standards, they would have emitted just 1,039 tonnes of NOx each year in total.
The company admitted the device may have been fitted to 11m of its vehicles worldwide. If that proves correct, VW’s defective vehicles could be responsible for between 237,161 and 948,691 tonnes of NOx emissions each year, 10 to 40 times the pollution standard for new models in the US. Western Europe’s biggest power station, Drax in the UK, emits 39,000 tonnes of NOx each year.
WHY THIS ISSUE IS IMPORTANT
This issue is important because the news that Volkswagen programmed 11 million of its cars to cheat on emissions tests to show levels of nitrous oxide emissions as much as 40 times lower than vehicles actually released under normal operation is an outrageous fact that will affect thousands of lives in Europe mainly. The company also said it would set aside 6.5 billion euros, or about $7.3 billion — the equivalent of half a year’s profits — to cover the cost of making the cars comply with pollution standards. The damage done by Volkswagen is inconceivably one of the most destructive scandals to our environment and actions must be taken to fix it.
Volkswagen’s rigging of emissions tests for 11m cars means they may be responsible for nearly 1m tonnes of air pollution every year, roughly the same as the UK’s combined emissions for all power stations, vehicles, industry and agriculture, a Guardian analysis suggests.
The potential scale of the scandal puts further pressure on Volkswagen’s board and its chief executive, Martin Winterkorn. The company’s executive committee plans to meet on Wednesday to discuss the affair and to agree the agenda of a full board meeting scheduled for Friday, amid reports that Winterkorn could be replaced.
The carmaker has recalled 482,000 VW and Audi brand cars in the US after the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) found models with Type EA 189 engines had been fitted with a device designed to reduce emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) under testing conditions.
A Guardian analysis found those US vehicles would have spewed between 10,392 and 41,571 tonnes of toxic gas into the air each year, if they had covered the average annual US mileage. If they had complied with EPA standards, they would have emitted just 1,039 tonnes of NOx each year in total.
The company admitted the device may have been fitted to 11m of its vehicles worldwide. If that proves correct, VW’s defective vehicles could be responsible for between 237,161 and 948,691 tonnes of NOx emissions each year, 10 to 40 times the pollution standard for new models in the US. Western Europe’s biggest power station, Drax in the UK, emits 39,000 tonnes of NOx each year.
WHY THIS ISSUE IS IMPORTANT
This issue is important because the news that Volkswagen programmed 11 million of its cars to cheat on emissions tests to show levels of nitrous oxide emissions as much as 40 times lower than vehicles actually released under normal operation is an outrageous fact that will affect thousands of lives in Europe mainly. The company also said it would set aside 6.5 billion euros, or about $7.3 billion — the equivalent of half a year’s profits — to cover the cost of making the cars comply with pollution standards. The damage done by Volkswagen is inconceivably one of the most destructive scandals to our environment and actions must be taken to fix it.