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| Diesel, the city and the Chesapeake Bay |
In the wake of the Volkswagen emissions cheating scandal we received a rich diet of media stories about corporate brazenness (not really new), lax government oversight (nothing new either), a very cozy relationship between European regulatory agencies and the auto industry (probably a revelation to many who believe governments are stronger in Europe) and the always astounding greed that plagues the governance of large corporations (an insight that quickly fades debacle after debacle, from Enron, to Lehman Bros., to BP).
But behind all that is an even bigger story, one of competing interests between nations in the race to lower CO2, and cities trying to comply with the Clean Air Act. The story of competing principles and different ideas about what it means to have clean air and what the right priorities should be in the wake of air pollution, dwindling resources, and climate change.
The cheating debacle concerning VW's Diesel engine and the attempt to sell it as the greenest combustion engine of all times falls squarely between the battle lines of these competing strategies. It illuminates the fact that clean air isn't as simple as clean or dirty. There are many shades of grey: It turns out what is good to combat climate change (CO2 reduction, for example) isn't the same for conserving fossil fuels (high MPG) and may not even be good for our health, especially health in cities. (Ok, truly clean air is clean, period. I am talking about relatively cleaner or dirtier air and priorities in industrial societies that pollute from many sources).
We know that what is really good for climate change can otherwise be pretty bad. Nuclear power is a great example – it can be generated almost entirely without emission of greenhouse gases, and would be a fantastic solution using only relatively abundant resources were it not for the health risks of radiation and the so far unsolved issue of storage or recycling of radioactive nuclear waste.
The Diesel debate has shown us the difference in the strategies between Europe and the US that are at the core of VW’s attempt to beat the US system. Europe has focused more on climate change, the US more on clean air. It now appears that Europe, in its eagerness to reduce greenhouse gases (foremost CO2) has skimped on the health of its citizens in urban conglomerations. Europe's incentives for Diesel (lower taxes in many EU countries than petrol or gasoline) precede serious debate about climate change, but went into overdrive after the main focus of environmental policies in the EU shifted to reductions i....