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Pressrelease | 2019-06-26

35 million to real-world traffic emissions studies

Cares, a collaborative project funded by the EU, will develop technologies to improve the measurement of real driving emissions. The project is particularly relevant in the wake of dieselgate, the scandal with software that manipulated emissions from new diesel cars.

Big cities such as Krakow, Prague and Milan have considerable problems with air pollution from road traffic emissions – mainly nitrogen oxides and particles. In these cities, the newly started EU project Cares – City Air Remote Emission Sensing – is poised to monitor traffic emissions. – The continued high emissions of nitrogen oxides from diesel cars is an important explanation for why the air in the cities has not improved, says Åke Sjödin, emission expert and project manager at IVL. The project, which is led by IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute, will develop and test instruments and software to remotely measure emissions in a variety of different ways: from above, across and from the side of the roadway, and by analysing the so-called “chasing plume” of on-road vehicles. This data will then be compiled into more advanced and extensive databases than those available today. New insights into actual traffic emissions of traffic can, for example, be used to give some vehicles the go-ahead to operate in environmental zones or ban others who pollute the air above the regulated cap. A few years back, several Cares members were involved in the Conox project – which was also coordinated by IVL. Conex focused on nitrogen oxide emissions from newer diesel cars in the wake of dieselgate, Volkswagen’s software manipulated air pollution tests scandal. – Cares can be seen as a continuation of this research, but now we will study traffic emissions in a much broader perspective. We will also make suggestions as to how the measurement technology can be utilized to leverage measures to reduce emissions, says IVL’s Åke Sjödin, Cares Project Coordinator. Representatives from Prague, Milan and Krakow participated at the project start in Gothenburg. – We just want cleaner air in Poland, so we can tick that item off the list and move on, said Anna Dworakowska from the organization Krakow Smog Alert. Cares also collaborates with universities, cities and authorities in China where similar emission measurements are pending. This collaboration is channelled through IVL´s office in Beijing. The project is financed with SEK 35 million via EU Horizon 2020 and will run for three years. Read more about CARES here. For more information, please contact: Åke Sjödin, ake.sjodin@ivl.se, +46 (0)10-788 67 98

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