Researchers from the University of Oxford have discovered that Britain sends more polluting used cars to poorer countries than it does to scrapyards. The study found that legally exported used cars had 53% higher emissions of nitrogen oxides per kilometer  – key health-harming air pollutants – than those that were scrapped instead.

It also warned that exported used cars generated at least 13% more carbon dioxide (CO2) per kilometer – the main greenhouse gas fuelling rising temperatures and climate change – than vehicles scrapped during the study period. The researchers warned that exported vehicles had lower fuel efficiency than scrapped cars or those still on the road.

Low- and middle-income countries

The study, published in the journal Nature Climate Change,  found that almost all exported diesel cars (98%) failed Euro-6 diesel emissions standards for nitrogen oxides and carbon monoxide, and 83% were predicted to fail standards for carbon dioxide emissions.

Exported used cars are destined for low- and middle-income countries, many of which have no vehicle emissions standards and suffer more deaths from air pollution. The UK, US, European Union, and Japan supply 90% of used vehicles to lower-middle-income countries, all of which maintain high vehicle emissions standards at home.

Lead author Dr Saul Newman concludes: “The study shows that we have been exporting dirtier cars than those we send to the scrapyard. This presents an enormous opportunity to clean up emissions in lower-income countries simply by applying our own domestic emission standards to vehicles sent offshore.”