Alex Keynes – Transport & Environment

How the EU’s car scrapyard law can bring clean steel and aluminium to Europe

Eoin Bannon — Thu, 06 Jul 2023 09:25:07 +0000

As the automotive industry accelerates its shift towards selling only battery electric cars in Europe by 2035, the footprint of vehicle production is coming more and more into the spotlight. As policymakers and carmakers alike strive to address the non-tailpipe lifecycle emissions from vehicles, improving the circularity of materials recycled and recovered from scrapped cars for use in new cars...

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‘Like telling people to keep smoking but stick to light cigarettes’

Eoin Bannon — Sat, 10 Jun 2023 10:19:25 +0000

Air quality is the biggest environmental threat to human health: a silent and often invisible killer that causes more than at least 275,00 premature deaths every year in Europe. Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) emissions, emitted chiefly from road transport, alone are responsible for 64,000 deaths. As well as causing various illnesses such as lung cancer, strokes, asthma, NO2 is suspected to damage every...

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‘Don’t Look Up’: The engine-makers’ answer to the climate crisis

Eoin Bannon — Fri, 14 Jan 2022 09:21:36 +0000

Netflix’s disaster comedy Don’t Look Up divided audiences between those (probably in the minority) hailing it as a clever satire and the rest who found it a bit short on wit. But all would probably agree that one of the film’s funnier moments – because it’s believable – is the president’s reaction to news that a ‘planet killer’ comet is headed for earth. “I say we sit tight and assess...

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New battery law could help Europe lead the green battery race

fbh-import — Thu, 12 Nov 2020 16:46:07 +0000

Receive them directly in your inbox. Delivered once a week. By Alex Keynes, clean vehicles manager, and Cecilia Mattea, clean vehicles officer at Transport and Environment. This opinion was first published on Euractiv. Europe will need to be selling battery electric vehicles only by 2035 if it’s to become climate neutral by 2050. The immense demand for batteries will make them more like the new...

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Why MEPs must withdraw dirty diesel’s ‘license to pollute’

fbh-import — Wed, 09 Sep 2020 13:38:31 +0000

Exactly five years after the Dieselgate scandal broke, the European Parliament is set to vote on a file that, at first glance, may look purely technical, but will in fact determine how much toxic air from exhaust pipes we’ll be breathing in the years to come. MEPs now have a second opportunity after 2016 to - finally - force carmakers to respect emission limits that were set all the way back in 2008. Far from being a big victory for clean air, however, the report adopted in the Parliament’s environment committee represents the bare minimum of what is needed. In particular, any amendments removing the clear end date of the harmful ‘conformity factors’ should be rejected.