"ban diesel, as 60 years ago coal was banned successfullly"

Simon Birkett, Founder and Director of Clean Air in London, said:

"Frankly, the only way to protect public health and comply fully with legal limits is to ban diesel from the "most-polluted areas.  Let’s do so positively, by encouraging positive measures such as active travel (e.g. walking and cycling) and triggering a massive shift to fewer, cleaner and greener vehicles.  By doing so, the UK can be a world leader again as it was so successfully 60 years ago after banning coal burning in cities."

http://cleanair.london/sources/defra-buries-consultation-on-diesel-ban-in-cities-minutes-before-corbyn-announcement/

VW `Clean Diesel' Scheme Exposed as Criminal Charges Weighed

VW admitted systematically cheating on U.S. air pollution tests for years, theEnvironmental Protection Agency announced Friday in citing violations that could add up to $18 billion in fines. The company said it has also heard from the Justice Department, which the EPA said could pursue criminal prosecution.

The German automaker has struggled to gain a foothold in the world’s
second-biggest car market with a strategy built in part on touting the efficiency of fun-to-drive “clean diesel” vehicles now shown to be anything but. 

“It’s a huge black eye for Volkswagen,” said Matt DeLorenzo, managing editor for news at Kelley Blue Book in Irvine, California. Consumer Reports magazine reacted by suspending its “recommended” rating of two diesel models.

Diesel versions of the popular Beetle, Golf, Jetta and Passat comprise more than a quarter of the brand’s sales in the U.S. and are a vital part of the company’s strategy for meeting tougher U.S. fuel economy standards going into effect in coming years. More than other carmakers, VW has chosen to focus on diesel technology instead of electrics or hybrids.

 

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-09-19/vw-clean-diesel-scheme-exposed-as-u-s-weighs-criminal-charges

Top UK court forces government to cut air pollution, diesel cars might be banned

"After having a kind of renaissance during the first decade of the 2000s, diesel is now under attack again. The current generation of "clean" diesel vehicles might be much improved over the soot-machines of yore, but they are still a problem, especially when you pack a lot of them close together, as in Europe. Also, the facts as we know them have changed (like the Keynes quote: "When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?"); We now know that diesel is more damaging to our health than we previously thought, with the World Health Organization officially recognizing it as causing cancer, and a recent study showing that it causes 6% of lung cancers in the US and UK.

No wonder then that France is offering people big incentives to swap old diesels for plug-ins and that Paris' mayor is trying to ban diesels by 2020.

The same thing might happen in the UK. Pollution levels have been over legal limits for nitrogen dioxide (NOx) since 2010 in 16 different cities and regions. The country's highest court has ordered the government to take immediate action to remedy the situation:

In a unanimous ruling, a panel of five judges, headed by the court's president Lord Neuberger, ordered "that the Government must prepare and consult on new air quality plans for submission to the European Commission... no later than December 31 2015". (source)

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-32512152

http://www.treehugger.com/cars/top-uk-court-forces-government-cut-air-pollution-diesel-cars-might-be-banned.html

Comment from bandiesel (inhouse) 

The BBC Article features a "Clean-Diesel"-Spin insert, claiming that Diesel has never been as clean as now... claiming that 99% of all particles are filtered now, however this is delusional propaganda since 99% is a mass based reduction and doesn't make any statement about toxicity, number and carcinogenic properties of remaining particles, which still remains 100 times more toxic than regular gasoline-car emissions. The New "Clean-Diesel" Technology is not clean nor safe, also the Soot-Trap Particle Filter emits heavy toxic fumes while "Regeneration". Industry and "Independent Experts" will try to convince you this is the "Best Available Technology" (BAT), well if this is the case, than phase out your harmful product line, that can only survive through fraudulent claims, marketing and junk science usually used by Tobacco companies. PS. this is very important, because Diesel Engine Producers, after successfully wrecking air quality in Europe, are now launching the "Clean Diesel"-Spin in the USA and China.

air pollution directly affects cognition

Air pollution and impaired lung function prove independent risk factors for cognitive decline

(...) "Our findings disprove the hypothesis that air pollution first decreases lung function and this decline, in turn, causes cognitive impairment by releasing stress signals and humoral mediators into the body," explains Mohammad Vossoughi, a PhD student at the Leibniz (Germany) Institute for Environmental Medicine, who led the study.

Mr. Vossoughi adds that the findings suggest other hypotheses about how air pollution affects cognition, including the possibility that particulate matter and other pollutants are translocated to the central nervous system via our sense of smell and that leads to mild cognitive impairment. (...)

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/05/150518121147.htm

UNEP says green transport key to boost air quality in China

'"China is a leader in the rapid switch to clean fuels and investment in speed trains," Jong noted.

Robust policies and legislation alongside infrastructure development are crucial to promote green transportation across cities in China and the developing world.

Jong stressed that a paradigm shift is an imperative to help tackle traffic congestion and the attendant air pollution in cities across China and Africa.

"It is possible to re-invent mobility in cities, if people switch from heavy use of cars to cycling and walking," Jong said.'

http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/910655.shtml

Paris to ban the most polluting diesel vehicles by 2020

"Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo has presented a plan to ban most diesel vehicles from the city by 2020 in order to lower air pollution.

By July, diesel buses and trucks will be banned during the daytime from entering the city but not from the ring road around Paris, Hidalgo explained Monday in a plan to members of the Paris Council. Then, she said, the measure will be gradually extended to ban diesel vehicles made before 2011—regarded as the most polluting—by 2020."

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2015-02-paris-polluting-diesel-vehicles.html#jCp
http://phys.org/news/2015-02-paris-polluting-diesel-vehicles.html

Chai Jing's review: Under the Dome – Investigating China’s Haze

Kolhapur Road Transport Authority bans diesel-run autos to curb air pollution in city

6 June 2014: "In a bid to bring down pollution in the urban areas, the Kolhapur Road Transport Authority has decided to ban autorickshaws running on diesel in the jurisdictions of Kolhapur Municipal Corporation and Ichalkaranji Municipal Council. Only autorickshaws running on petrol and LPG will be allowed to ply on the roads."

Kolhapur Road Transport Authority bans diesel-run autos to curb air pollution in cityhttp://auto.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/policy/kolhapur-road-transport-authority-bans-diesel-run-autos-to-curb-air-pollution-in-city/36137767

Norway Municipalities to Ban Diesel Cars

The Nordic Page Norway reports on the 23.06.2014: "Liberal Party (Venstre) and Socialist Left Party (SV) proposes to change a number of state laws and regulations that will let municipalities to ban diesel car from traffic and introduce high emission fees. (...)

Elvestuen notes that the main source of acute air pollution in Oslo is high NO2 emissions during winter days and that diesel cars are the biggest reason of high NO2.

In this frame, two party make the proposal to Parliament on three specific changes.

First, they want municipalities to have the authority to ban diesel cars to run on the day of acute air pollution also on highways.

Also, they want municipalities to be able to impose so-called low emission zones, in which the most polluting cars are banned or have to pay high fees in some areas. Both Oslo and Bergen want such zones.

Moreover, they want to provide municipalities the right to introduce local environmental taxes."

http://www.tnp.no/norway/panorama/4525-norway-municipalities-to-ban-diesel-cars

Interesting policy moves and activism we would also love to see in other countries.

New Markets for Diesel Fuel and Direct-Injection-Motors? Seriously?

USA / CHINA

"Bosch overview of global diesel markets;
optimistic about US, China"

"7 August 2013: (...) Bosch, a leading supplier of technology for diesel engines, recently provided an overview of trends it sees in the diesel engine marketplace globally. In addition to the ongoing strength in the European market and India (the second-largest diesel market after Europe, Bosch sees potential strength in North America and China."

United States: Diesel boom on the horizon
http://www.bosch-presse.de/presseforum/details.htm?locale=en&txtID=6355

Bosch wants to introduce their Diesel engines to China and the US. There are clear indications that this will exacerbate the problems with ultrafine carcinogenic Particles. Policy-wise it might be time to focus on toxicity of emissions."

Will anybody dare to hold Bosch accountable?
If you call a hazardous technology that is known to cause massive health problems around the world the "Best Available Technology" then suddenly everybody will just go along with that?

from the news-section of:

http://www.agluftverschmutzung.org/

Are the people from the EPA aware of what a Diesel Boom in the US would mean?
http://www.epa.gov/cleandiesel/ncdc-cmt.htm#whereyoulive
Are they aware that "Clean Diesel" to date is in fact a fraudulent claim?

Addendum: Is the climate change debate which is focusing solely on CO2 emissions (instead of NO2, Black Carbon, toxic ultrafine particles etc.) actually just a marketing-tool to introduce new Diesel Cars all over the US as it also was the case in Europe 10 years ago? If that is the case, and regarding the automotive industries goal to introduce over 40 new diesel cars on the US-market till end of the year, it is no surprise that even Greg Page from Cargill is buzzing about new CO2 regulations. As we know from the european Diesel-Desaster, focusing solely on CO2 emissions by introducing widespread use of Diesel-Cars has not helped the climate and the environment in any way.
http://www.thenation.com/article/180420/chairman-largest-private-company-america-just-told-1-percent-worry-about-climate-chan

London Leads the EU in Car Pollution; Diesel Fuel Blamed

"London has a dirty secret: Levels of the air pollutant nitrogen dioxide (NO2), as measured by a monitoring station in the central city, are the highest in Europe. Concentrations of the compound are greater even than in Beijing, where smog alerts are common.


The European Union’s fight against climate change has favored diesel over gasoline, because diesel engines burn fuel more efficiently and emit less carbon dioxide (CO2), the leading cause of global warming. But a byproduct of burning diesel is NO2. “Successive governments knew more than 10 years ago that diesel was producing all these harmful pollutants, but they myopically plowed on with their anti-CO2 agenda,” says Simon Birkett, founder of Clean Air in London, a nonprofit. “It’s been a catastrophe for air pollution, and that’s not too strong a word.”


The World Health Organization says NO2 is linked to asthma and can inflame respiratory passages and aggravate bronchitis in children. In addition to NO2, diesel combustion also generates easily inhaled fine particulate matter, which probably killed 3,389 people in London in 2010, the government agency Public Health England said in April. Because the fine particles and NO2 commingle, it’s hard to distinguish deaths caused only by NO2, says Jeremy Langrish, a clinical lecturer in cardiology at the University of Edinburgh. But researchers think NO2has harmful effects independent of particulate matter, says Frank Kelly, a professor of environmental health at King’s College London. (---)


http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-06-05/london-leads-eu-in-car-pollution-diesel-fuel-blamed

and http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-05-27/london-s-dirty-secret-pollutes-like-beijing-airpocalyse.html 


Switch to diesel engines is significantly to blame for poor air quality in UK cities, experts sayhttp://www.bmj.com/content/348/bmj.g3033

PS. and here is the article: 

Critical evaluation of the European diesel car boom – a global comparison, environmental effects and various national strategies. by Michel Cames and Eckhard Helmers.
Results: "Expected greenhouse gas savings initiated by the shift to diesel cars have been overestimated" and
"We conclude that the European diesel car boom did not cool down the atmosphere."
"Moreover, toxic NOx emissions of diesel cars have been undestimated up to 20-fold in officially announced date."
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186%2F2190-4715-25-15#page-1

PS II. and here Clean Air in London (CAL) calls out Mayor Boris Johnson for his bad track record
Stop hiding air pollution and ban diesel exhaust in two stages to 2020 as coal was banned 60 years ago  CAL regrets that the Mayor’s track record on similar schemes has been very poor. For example: i. delaying Phase 3 of Mayor Livingstone’s low emission zone from October 2010 to January 2012; ii. scrapping the western extension of the congestion charging zone despite adverse air pollution impacts expected; iii. 100% discount for diesel vehicles entering the CCCZ i.e. Greener Vehicle Discount that was recently scrapped because of the problems it created;- See more at: http://cleanairinlondon.org/hot-topics/stop-hiding-air-pollution-and-ban-diesel-exhaust-in-two-stages-to-2020-as-coal-was-banned-60-years-ago/#sthash.W8bg1erq.dpuf

India’s Diesel Subsidy Spurs Pollution Worse Than Beijing

“I have no doubt, 100 percent, that diesel exhaust is contributing to a rise in asthma, respiratory illnesses and hospitalizations,” said Dr. T.K. Joshi, director of the Centre for Occupational & Environmental Health in Delhi at Maulana Azad Medical College.(...)


Lethal Particles

Carmakers from Daimler AG’s Mercedes-Benz to Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. to General Motors Co. have all introduced new diesel models since 2010.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-02-27/india-s-diesel-subsidy-spurs-pollution-worse-than-beijing.html