The European Commission is set to propose a long-awaited package of policy measures to combat air pollution tomorrow (18 December), the last possible date for the measures to be adopted during the Commission’s self-proclaimed ‘year of air’. Though the package will contain new national emissions ceilings and new limits for small combustion installations, it will not contain new limits for construction equipment as expected.

A review of the 1997 directive covering non-road diesel machines, which include bulldozers, excavators, mobile generators and barges, is now due. It was assumed that this would be included in the air quality package, but the proposal has been held up within the Commission and is now not expected until March or April of next year.

A leaked impact assessment seen by European Voice suggests that the scope and targets for this type of machinery are likely to be lower than hoped for by clean air advocates.

The impact assessment also does not assess ultra fine particles from the largest diesel engines greater than 560kw. These include mobile generators located in big construction sites which account for more than 10% of the land-based non-road mobile machinery emissions, and are expected to contribute to 20% in 2020. The omission of this type of pollution from the impact assessment indicates that the proposal will not regulate one-fifth of the emissions from the machines under the scope.

The ambition of the assessment, which has not yet been made public, also appears limited. The most ambitious scenario it examines is less stringent than the minimum limits set for road vehicles – the Euro VI standards.

Campaigners have also complained that the assessment is using an outdated method from 2008 for estimating the cost of air pollution and also does not take into account recent scientific evidence such as a report last year from the World Health Organisation which demonstrated a link between diesel fumes and cancer.

“This biased Commission’s impact assessment inadequately analyses the health and environmental impacts of dirty diesel machines in urban areas,” said Eva Corral, air quality officer with green transport group T&E. “If the Commission is serious about protecting citizens from cancer-causing diesel exhaust, it must strengthen the assessment with the latest scientific evidence available.”

The Commission does not comment on leaked documents, but a spokesperson said the work done so far has received positive feedback. “By and large, the approach and proposed limit values received broad support by the stakeholders,” she said.

European air pollution rules for non-road diesel machinery are much more lax than those for cars and lorries, as they account for only 7% of nitrogen dioxide (NOx) and 5% of particulate matter (PM) emissions from land-based sources. However as road vehicles reduce their emissions, the contribution of diesel machinery is expected to increase.