A Diesel-free Antwerp

Road traffic has a large impact on the urban air quality. For nitrogen oxides, diesel traffic has the largest contribution to road transport’s share in the emissions. Ademloos is a civil action group that has been campaigning for better air quality in Antwerp, Belgium, for more than a decade. They requested VITO to simulate the impact of a scenario where a diesel ban would be introduced for all personal vehicles.

VITO simulated the annual average pollution levels in a reference scenario as well as a diesel free scenario. This diesel-free scenario is a one-by-one replacement of diesel passenger cars by petrol cars of the same EURO-standard. For both scenarios, the traffic emissions have been calculated for the Flemish fleet as well as a diesel free fleet. Starting from these emission data, the dispersion of the traffic emissions is modelled and combined with the background concentrations and contributions of other sectors.

Ademloos uses the resulting air quality maps as an important argument in its campaigns for a healthier urban environment. More traffic restrictions for diesel traffic are proposed by Ademloos as an important measure to achieve better air quality in the short term.