OA research in the news: Volkswagen emissions may increase mortality rates in Europe

In 2015, Volkswagen admitted to doctoring software in its diesel cars so they would pass emissions tests. The company had sold 11 million of the defective cars, which released more than four times the amount of air pollutants permitted under European law.

A recent study, coauthored by MIT researchers including Professor Steven Barrett, estimates that 1,200 people in Europe will die prematurely because of excess emissions from the 2.6 million cars sold in Germany alone.

“A natural next step for us is to focus on excess emissions by all manufacturers,” the study’s lead author, MIT AeroAstro graduate student Guillame Chossière told the New York Times. “Europe has very severe air quality issues, and enforcing standards in diesel cars should be considered as a first step toward cleaner air.”

Explore Professor Barrett’s research in the Open Access Articles collection in DSpace@MIT, where it is openly accessible to the world.

Since the MIT faculty established their Open Access Policy in March 2009 they have made thousands of research papers freely available to the world via DSpace@MIT. To highlight that research, we’re offering a series of posts that link news stories about scholars’ work to their open access papers in DSpace.