The European Diesel Summit - Fast routes to clean air

EUROCITIES, the European Public Health Alliance (EPHA), and Transport & Environment (T&E) are joining forces to organise the first ever European Summit on Diesel.

The dangerous legacy of the ‘dieselgate’ scandal continues to pollute the air that Europeans breathe. Too little has been done to tackle the fleet of more than 43 million grossly-polluting diesel cars and vans currently on Europe’s roads.

The current piecemeal approach of vehicle recalls across Europe, and the growing trend of exporting dirty diesels, does nothing to solve this problem and further exacerbates the divide in health equality. All Europeans have the right to clean air; we need European solutions, too, to make this right a reality.

This Summit invites all concerned stakeholders - high-level representatives of EU institutions, governments, cities, industry, academia and civil society - to discuss what concrete solutions are available, in a constructive and forward-looking manner.

PROGRAMME

• 9:00 - 9:30 Registration and coffee

• 9:30 - 9:45 Welcome by William Todts, Executive Director of Transport & Environment

• 9:45 - 11:00 Panel 1: The legacy of dieselgate
  

- Monique Goyens, Director, The European Consumer Organisation (BEUC)

- Connie Hedegaard, former European Commissioner for Climate Action, Chair of OECD’s Roundtable for Sustainable Development, member of the Sustainability Council of Volkswagen

- Zoltán Massay-Kosubek, Policy Manager for Health Policy Coherence, European Public Health Alliance (EPHA)

- Peter Mock, EU Managing Director, International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT)

- Jürgen Resch, Director, Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH)

• Questions & answers
  

• 11:00 - 11:30 *** Coffee break ***

• 11:30 - 11:45 Keynote speech: What the European Commission is doing to tackle the legacy of dieselgate, by Elżbieta Bieńkowska, EU Commissioner for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs

• 11:45 - 11:50 Presentation of the Summit Declaration by Dorthe Nielsen, Policy Director, EUROCITIES
  

• 11:50 - 12:50 Panel 2: What are the solutions?
  

- Filipe Araújo, Vice-Mayor and deputy mayor of Environment and Innovation, City of Porto

- Victor Everhardt, Deputy Mayor for Health, Emission-free Transport, City of Utrecht

- Yoana Hristova, Deputy Mayor for Ecology, City of Sofia

- Laurianne Krid, Director General, Fédération internationale de l’automobile (FIA) Region I

- Kathleen Van Brempt, former Chair of the special inquiry committee of the European Parliament

• Questions & answers

• 12:50 - 13:00 Conclusions by Greg Archer, Director Clean Vehicles, Transport & Environment

• 13:00-13:45 Lunch
  

Moderator: Dave Keating