Europe shares its research on emissions

The abatement of air pollution linked with road traffic requires the elaboration of international limit standards. The quadrilateral agreement between Europe, the USA, Japan and China signed in December 2003 foresees the creation of a common research platform about atmospheric pollution measurement and calibration and vehicles testing. The common research center of the European Commission offers its know how on 4 topics: the impact of fuels formulation on emissions, the development of a new testing cycle for non-road vehicles and for motorbikes, and the analysis of the whole automotive fuel chain ('well-to-wheel'). (J.S.)