Sadiq Khan asks BMW, Mercedes and VW to fund air pollution scheme
BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen have been accused of “double standards” by London Mayor, Sadiq Khan, after it emerged that the firms had paid £223m ($290m) to the German Sustainable Mobility Fund for Cities, but nothing to the UK. Khan has written to the car manufacturers asking them to contribute to a fund designed to tackle London’s air pollution crisis. Figures released on Wednesday revealed that every inhabitant of the capital is breathing air in breach of global guidelines for PM2.5 particle pollution.
The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has written to three leading car manufacturers asking them to contribute to the fund set up to tackle the capital’s air pollution crisis.

Khan has accused BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen of “double standards” after it emerged they had paid £223m to the German government’s Sustainable Mobility Fund for Cities earlier this year, but have given nothing to the UK.

“Londoners will be baffled by the double standards of these car manufacturers. On the one hand, they admit they’ve got to cut emissions from their vehicles, but they confine their funding to Germany alone.”



VW has also paid $15bn compensation in the US after the dieselgate scandal – when it was found to have fitted millions of cars with “defeat devices” that made their cars appear less polluting in emissions tests than they were on the road.

Khan said: “In July, the UK managing director of VW sat in my office and said they couldn’t contribute anything to fund cleaning up London’s air, but their German colleagues are providing money. Londoners will find that unacceptable.”



The scale of London’s air pollution crisis was laid bare on Wednesday, with new figures showing that every person in the capital is breathing air that exceeds global guidelines for dangerous toxic particles.

The research revealed that every area in the capital exceeds World Health Organisation (WHO) limits for PM2.5s – ultra-fine particles of less than 2.5 microns which have serious health implications, especially for children.

London is widely recognised as the worst area for air pollution in the UK, although there is growing evidence that dangerously polluted air is damaging people’s health in towns and cities across the country.

Khan has also written to the secretary of state for transport, Chris Grayling, to ask the government to do more.

“The government must act urgently to secure a meaningful amount of funding from these manufacturers, which could help people to scrap the most polluting diesel vehicles and take these off our streets,” said Khan.

The mayor has set out a range of plans to tackle pollution from diesel cars in the capital. The first stage, the new T-Charge, which will charge older, more polluting vehicles entering central London, starts later this month.

Clean air campaigners have welcomed the moves but called on him to go further and take more immediate action to tackle the crisis.

They are also calling on him to halt major road developments – such as the Silvertown Tunnel project – which they say will increase pollution in the capital.

Areeba Hamid, clean air campaigner at Greenpeace said: “Asking car manufacturers to take responsibility for their part in London’s air pollution crisis is an essential first step towards holding them accountable.

“A clean air fund that major car manufactures contribute towards could help, provided manufacturers agree to ditch diesel completely. In the meantime, new Euro 6 cars should be subject to ULEZ regulations if we are to clean up London’s air and keep it that way.”