Why the people who run the automotive industry should be tried for crimes against humanity
Two news items this week illustrate the automotive industry’s total regard for the health of the planet, and the people living on it, in its determination to keep selling its fossil fuel-powered junk.
The car lobby has successfully pressured the British Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, to delay the ban on the sale of petrol and diesel vehicles from 2030 to 2035. A ban that was crucial to achieving the emissions reductions needed to meet the Paris Agreement targets.
Cars are responsible for a large part of the emissions that have created the climate emergency, and what’s more, they create the most contamination in cities, which are essentially traps that poison their inhabitants. Recent research published by the Energy Policy Institute of the University of Chicago shows that simply breathing the polluted air of cities has a more pernicious effect on life expectancy than smoking.
This week also saw the automotive industry succeed in getting the European Union to lower the emission reduction requirements for vehicles, delaying by two years the entry into force of new conditions (the so-called Euro 7 standard) for the emission of polluting gases. This regulation will not come into force until 2027 in the case of light vehicles and 2029 in the case…
