VW diesel pulled apart by women at V&A opening

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Protest targets sponsor VW’s commitment to polluting diesel

Four women are dismantling a VW Golf TDI diesel car at an unofficial fringe exhibition at the V&A.

The event, organised by Greenpeace, is timed to coincide with the press launch of the V&A ‘The future starts here’ summer blockbuster which is sponsored by VW.

The unofficial performance, ‘The future doesn’t start here’ [1], is being held in the courtyard outside the gallery hosting the VW sponsored launch. It began at 10am and is expected to run till 1pm.

The performance is a protest targeting VW’s continued support of polluting diesel engines, and is calling on VW to stop making diesel cars.

Rosie Strickland, one of the Greenpeace performers, 32, from East London, said: “This exhibition is all about futuristic technologies, but VW, its sponsor, is clinging onto dirty diesel tech despite the known impact on people’s health and the climate.

“We’re here to demonstrate to VW that there’s no future in diesel, and demand it goes all-electric. The future starts with the end of diesel.”

The female performers will carefully remove engine and exhaust parts from the Golf TDI, displaying them across the courtyard to reveal what lies beneath the car’s polished body.

An investigation by Greenpeace last year showed that some of the newest Euro 6 VW diesel models, like the Golf 1.6TDI used in this performance, are still failing to live up to the industry’s ‘clean diesel’ claims and polluting at illegal levels in urban driving conditions.

In September 2017 Greenpeace launched a campaign targeting VW’s continued promotion of polluting diesel by blocking a major import route bringing Volkswagen diesel cars into the UK. More than 100,000 people in the UK have already joined the campaign calling on Volkswagen to ditch diesel.

VW sells the most diesel cars in the UK; one in five new diesel cars are VW Group.

VW recently committed to creating electric versions of all its cars by 2030. But despite diesel scandals and plummeting diesel sales, the new VW CEO Herbert Diess says diesel will remain core to VW’s future business model.

VW’s global competitors Toyota, Nissan, Volvo and Fiat-Chrysler are already reported to be ending diesel production in Europe.

In 2015 VW was caught cheating on emissions tests by using a defeat device designed to reduce emissions in test conditions. More than 1.2 million vehicles sold in the UK were fitted with this device by VW, designed to mislead the public and push cars which pump out dangerous levels of air pollution onto UK roads.

The impact of air pollution is particularly acute for children [2]. High exposure to polluted air at a young age can cause chronic health problems that last a lifetime, with research showing negative effects for lung function, respiratory issues like asthma and even stunted lung growth.

Levels of harmful nitrogen dioxide air pollution in the UK have broken legal limits every year since 2010 – and diesel vehicles are responsible for 90% of toxic NOx coming from roads. In total, the health impacts of air pollution in the UK are estimated to cost the UK more than £20 billion every year.

A joint inquiry by four committees of MPs recently demanded the UK car industry contribute to a new clean air fund, following the ‘polluter pays’ principle.

Some 60,000 British consumers are currently engaged in the largest group litigation action in UK history targeting VW for compensation over the emissions scandal.

ENDS

Contact:

For interviews on location, contact Ellen Booth 07732072791 ebooth@greenpeace.org

For all else, contact Greenpeace UK Press Office 020 7865 8255 or press.uk@greenpeace.org

Photos and video available shortly from: https://media.greenpeace.org/collection/27MZIFJXFE06Y

Notes to editors:

[1]: The performance ‘The future doesn’t start here’ is inspired by the work of Croatian artist Dina Rončević. See http://dinaroncevic.blogspot.co.uk/p/car-deconstructions.html

[2]: For further research on the links between air pollution and respiratory problems in children, see:

• Traffic-derived Air Pollution and Lung Function Growth
• Small Changes, Big Impact: Exposure to Air Pollution and Reduced Lung Function in Children
• Associations of short-term exposure to traffic-related air pollution with cardiovascular and respiratory hospital admissions in London, UK
• Suppression of lung growth by environmental toxins
• Air Pollution Exposure and Lung Function in Children: The ESCAPE Project