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Cars in Norway emit 42 pct more CO2 than claimed by producers

Xinhua, December 14, 2016 Adjust font size:

A recent report showed a difference of 42 percent between carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions claimed by producers and those actually emitted, public broadcaster NRK reported on Tuesday.

The fresh report was made by the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT). However, when the ICCT made a similar report in 2001, the difference was only 9 percent, according to NRK.

"We are being tricked. We have been told for years that fossil fuel cars will be more effective and reduce the emissions," said Christoffer Klyve from the Future In Our Hands (FIOH), a Norwegian environmental organization.

"The environment is tricked, because the emissions are bigger than we thought. The state is tricked, because the fees that car buyers pay are lower, and the drivers are tricked, because they have to pay more for fuel," he said.

Klyve wants stricter control regarding the emission numbers that the automotive industry can operate with.

"The real solution is to stop using fossil fuel and make more people drive electric cars. But in the short term we need an independent body that can control the actual emissions and not let the automotive industry control itself like they do today," he said.

The major differences are due to an outdated test that has not changed over the past 20 years.

"In this test, car producers may make a whole lot of things within the rules that make emissions come down in the lab," Lasse Fridstrom from the Institute of Transport Economics told NRK.

He said the producers can, for example, choose skinny tires, adjust the brakes and turn off air conditioning and other appliances to get the lower numbers, without breaking the rules of the test.

Tore Lillemork, technical director of the Norwegian Automobile Importers' Association, said a new and better test was on the way. He believed it would provide consumers with more accurate numbers.

"In addition to the lab test being changed, the cars will be tested out on the road with mobile measuring equipment. The tests will be better," he said.

Cars coming on the market from Sept. 1 next year will be measured by the new test, according to NRK. Endit