The UK alone has seen an estimated 16,000 extra premature deaths due to the ‘Dieselgate’ scandal that saw Volkswagen (VW) vehicles emit greater amounts of air pollution than regulators were led to believe in the 2010s.
In 2015, regulators including the US Environmental Protection Agency found that VW had been intentionally installing software in its diesel cars that turned on pollution controls when vehicles were being tested by regulators, but switched them off during everyday driving. This made it appear as if the cars met tough US limits on harmful pollutants known as nitrogen oxides (NOX).
It is estimated that 11 million cars worldwide were equipped with the illegal software before the scandal was revealed and the practice stopped.
A report from the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air calculated the exact number of excess deaths that occurred due to VW’s actions. It estimated that about 16,000 people in the UK had already died prematurely and a further 30,000 cases of asthma...
