WRITTEN QUESTION E-2048/03

by Bart Staes (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

(19 June 2003)

Subject: Soot filters for buses

The Flemish transport company De Lijn intends to equip a further 700 of its buses with soot filters by 2005. It has taken this decision after an experiment with town buses in Louvain which yielded very favourable results. The filters reduce the number of soot particles substantially. Annual emissions of carbon monoxide from each vehicle are reduced by 98 %. Similar reductions are obtained in emissions of unburned hydrocarbons. Although the filters are not particularly cheap, the experiment showed that they only needed to undergo maintenance once a year. Not only in Flanders but also for example in Sweden and Germany, several thousand buses are now in operation which are equipped with soot filters.

Is the Commission aware of the environmental benefits of such soot filters?

Will it take measures to encourage their use throughout the EU? If so, what measures? If not, why not?

Answer given by Mr Liikanen on behalf of the Commission

(24 July 2003)

The Commission is well aware of the performance of diesel particulate filters and the benefits their use may have for certain heavy-duty vehicles. Many test programmes have shown the benefits of using a diesel particulate filter on heavy-duty vehicles and buses for reducing not only the overall mass emission of particulate but also the very much smaller nano-particulate which are suspected of having a causal effect on human health.

The emission standards due to take effect for new heavy-duty vehicles in 2005 and a further stage of standards in 2008 through Directive 1999/96/EC(1) (the so-called EUR 4 and EUR 5 standards) will require manufacturers to consider using diesel particulate filters to meet the emission standards. The standards set performance targets that can be met by an appropriately durable technology. The diesel particulate filter may not be the best technical solution for long distance trucks but for buses and other vehicles operating in urban areas, the diesel particulate filter has a lot of merit. The Commission is now considering the Euro 6 emission standards and this will focus not only on further reductions in particulate mass (the measurement unit of today) but also on the reduction of emission of nano-particulate. New measurement procedures for nano-particulate are being finalised with this objective in mind.

Article 3 of Directive 1999/96/EC provides the mechanism for Member States to grant fiscal incentives to vehicles that meet future emission standards in advance of the date of their mandatory application. Therefore, Community measures already exist to encourage the use of diesel particulate filters in the Member States.

One point of relevance concerns the move towards the universal use of ultra-low sulphur fuels throughout the Union. The use of ultra-low sulphur fuels will result in an immediate reduction in particulate mass emissions from all vehicles, new and old. The sulphur in fuel contributes to overall particulate mass emission.

(1) Directive 1999/96/EC of the Parliament and of the Council of 13 December 1999 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to measures to be taken against the emission of gaseous and particulate pollutants from compression ignition engines for use in vehicles, and the emission of gaseous pollutants from positive ignition engines fuelled with natural gas or liquefied petroleum gas for use in vehicles and amending Council Directive 88/77/EEC, OJ L 44, 16.2.2000.