Volkswagen emissions scandal will foster pollution-free car production: UN chief

The logo of German carmaker Volkswagen is seen on the front grill of a Passat car in Willmette, Illinois, September 24, 2015. Reuters/Jim Young

A surprising comment came from United Nations climate change chief Christiana Figueres on Tuesday, when she said she was “delighted” by the Volkswagen diesel emissions scandal. This was because she believed that the German car maker will now focus on manufacturing electric and hybrid car, than by making cars run by fossil fuels.

The chief executive secretary of UN Framework Convention on Climate Change has observed the changing arena is ready to speed up the global shift to welcome an eco-friendly environment for people to live in. Figueres acknowledged the statement released by the company, in which it claimed to manufacture electric and hybrid cars to make up for cheating on the environment.

“If the people’s vehicle says we are going to make electric vehicles and we’re going to make it accessible to everybody to be able to get a car, now we have a little electric transport revolution on the way,” Figueres addressed a Christian Science Monitor event in Washington, referring to the English translation of Volkswagen which means “the car of the people.”

The UN chief was in Washington to meet U.S. authorities prior to attending the UN discussion on climate change schedule from Nov. 30 to Dec. 11 in Paris. UN officials for climate change have been making attempts to encourage carmakers to produce only pollution-free vehicles to ensure maintenance of global ecosystem.

Figueres stressed on Tesla’s initiative to manufacture high-end electric car, but she mentioned that even the cheapest model is worth $70,000 (AU$97,200). “Tesla is certainly opening up very, very new ground but Tesla, as we all know, is not exactly the people’s vehicle,” the UN chief said.

Volkswagen confirmed on Tuesday that there 800,000 more cars, including the first petrol engines that have indicated irregularities in carbon emissions. Out of the cars found with inconsistency, there were 1.4, 1.6 and 2.0 litre motors of VW, Seat, Audi and Skoda that indicated that the level of carbon emissions were lower than the actual emission expected, a company spokesperson claimed.