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◼ REMARKS Bloomberg Businessweek October 14, 2019What’sallthemorefrustratingis thatdieselengineswere
supposedtobea climatesavior.Theirfueleconomyis gen-
erallybetterthanthatofgasolineengines,andpolicymakers
believedinthelate1990sthattheyproducedfeweremissions
of carbondioxide(aclaimquestionedbylaterstudies).Diesel
buyersinBritain,France,andGermanygottaxincentivesfrom
their governments,who’dbeenlobbiedbycarmanufactur-
ers whoconvincedthemthetechnologywascleaner.And,of
course,policymakersbelievedlabtestswerea genuineguide
toreal-worldperformance—aliedramaticallyexposedin 2015
whenVolkswagenAGadmittedit hadusedsoftwaretoratchet
downemissionsduringthestandardtestingprotocol.Onthe
road,VWsspewedpollutantsata rateasmuchas 40 times
higherthaninthelab.Othercarmakersalsoshowedhugegaps:
fornitrogenoxides,anaverageofasmuchas 700 to 800 milli-
grams perkilometeronthestreetvs.80mginthelab,accord-
ing to aJune 2019 statementfromtheEuropeanCommission.
Volkswagenhaspaid$33billioninfinesandsettlements,
but therealpriceis measuredinlives.TheRoyalCollegeof
Physiciansestimatedin 2016 thatasmanyas40,000deaths
a yearintheU.K.arecausedbyexposuretooutdoorairpol-
lutants,updatinga 2010assessmentof29,000—inlargepart
becauseofhigherconcentrationsofNO2.
Londonhascommittedhundredsofmillionsofpoundsto
replacedieselbuseswithhybridelectricmodelsandrequires
a £56,000($69,000)electricmodelforanynewblackcabs,
famouslydirtyandfoul-smelling.Mostcontroversial,Khanis
rollingoutUltraLowEmissionZones,charging£12.50a day
for vehiclesthataren’tcompliantwiththelateststandards.By
2021, thezonesmaystretchallthewaytotheNorthandSouth
CircularroadsthatringLondon.Butteststhatmeasureperfor-
manceaccuratelycontinuetobedevilpolicymakers.
At theRealWorldEmissionsconference,inMarchina Long
Beach,Calif.,hotel—thesameannualgatheringofacademics
and carmanufacturingofficialswhereWestVirginiaUniversity
researchersfiveyearsagounveiledtheteststhattrippedup
VW—aprocessionofindependentanalysesshowedhowfar
vehiclesunderthedemandsofcoldweatherandcitydriv-
ingstilldivergefromthelatest“Euro6”emissionstandards.
OnepaperbyAndreasGruberoftheViennaUniversityof
Technologyestimatedthatevena plug-inhybridemitstwice
themaximumEuro6 limitforparticulates.“So,nextstep,I
hope wecanworktogethertobuilda betterfutureforusand
our children,”heconcluded,toslighttittersfromthecrowd
of industryprofessionals.The deathofa 9-year-oldnamedEllaAdoo-Kissi-Debrahhas
the potentialtogalvanizeanairpollutionmovementinthe
capital.ShegrewupinLewisham,a boroughof300,000in
southeastLondon,joineda LittleKickerssoccerteamfor
MillwallFCatage2,andlovedplayingdrums,piano,and
guitar.AroundChristmasof2010,justbeforesheturned7,
she hada severeasthmaattackandwentintothehospital,
the firstof 28 visitsovera three-yearperiod.Aftershediedin
February2013, the pathologist called it one of the worst casesof asthma ever recorded in the U.K. The inquest determined
hertriggerswereairborne,andElla’smother,Rosamund
Adoo-Kissi-Debrah,speculatedtotheEveningStandardthat
pollutionwasa factor.Thefamilylives 25 meters from the
South Circular road.
Stephen Holgate, a University of Southampton profes-
sor and one of the country’s foremost asthma experts, spot-
ted the article. He contacted Ella’s mother and put together
a paper correlating the child’s hospital visits with spikes in
air pollution. It was the backbone for a legal assault orches-
trated by Jocelyn Cockburn, a human-rights lawyer bothered
enough by the air to move to the coast (a luxury, as she points
out, that isn’t available to people of less means). In May the
U.K. High Court granted her request for a new inquest, likely
next year, on the grounds that air pollution should be cited
as a cause of death—the first time in any official proceeding.
If pollution is confirmed as a cause, it would usher in a wave
of litigation to force authorities to clean up illegal pollution
and open the door to holding polluters directly responsible.
“Banning diesel would be a great start,” Adoo-Kissi-Debrah
says. She shared a stage at a Vienna conference in May with
former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who
mused that climate campaigners might have it wrong by
focusing so much on long-term risks rather than the here
and now. “We have to let people know that pollution will kill
you,” he said.
It isn’t just asthmatics who are affected by bad air; we
are, in fact, more like canaries in the coal mine. One study
of heart tissue from 63 young people who’d died in road acci-
dents in Mexico City found billions of pollutant particles per
gram associated with early and significant cardiac damage.
Asthma expert Holgate says doctors have to educate patients
about the dangers of air pollution in the same way they did
about smoking.
Europe’s struggles are only one part of a pollution reckon-
ing around the world, where 90% of people breathe dirty air,
costing 7 million lives a year by World Health Organization
estimates. Climate change is causing more intense and fre-
quent wildfires that sometimes blanket parts of the U.S. West
Coast, including my hometown of Seattle, in hazy smoke. In
part, it’s a downside of the urbanization world leaders have
encouraged as the best way to address poverty. Residents
are packed closer together, increasing pollution. Now people
everywhere—from Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, which banned the
burning of raw coal, to Beijing, which is in the midst of the
world’s most ambitious ramp-up of electric cars—are start-
ing to recognize the trade-off. Those benefits only go so far.
Lung-penetrating particles are also generated by road dust
and worn tires—solely traffic-dependent.
In December, Leslie and I gave up on London and returned
to Seattle with our boys. The Ham & High newspaper in our
London neighborhood recently reported that the “lollipop
lady” (crossing guard) at the local primary school started
wearing a gas mask. In Seattle, there was a whiff of wildfire
smoke this August, but the wind shifted, and it went away. <BW>