One of the best-kept secrets of the motor industry is the level of their adherence to carbon emission in different markets of the world.

If one buys a car in the Middle East, it may not pass emission standards in Europe.

According to an official in a major German company, cars exported to the Middle East are only required to satisfy “Euro 4” standard while in Europe the standard of new cars is now “Euro 6.”

To complicate matters further, American carbon emission standards are different from European standards and both are different from the Japanese.

No one can be sure which standard do Chinese companies that export cars to the Middle East apply.

Some American car models do not have declared emission standards in the region.

There is no clear carbon emission criteria applied in the Middle East.

One negative factor is the low quality of fuel available to drivers which makes using the latest clean emissions standard unattainable.

The fuel issue is to be resolved in the next five years. Until then, some companies do not bother to apply their cleanest standards in the region, while they apply them in Europe and America.

The emission issue is a global problem and it does not make any sense to apply different standards in different regions.

It would make no difference to the environment if Europe applies the cleanest possible emission standard, while cars in North Africa and the Middle East bellow tons of carbon and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere daily.

Regulators in Europe and America are reluctant to unify standards because they fear losing control over their local markets. But the longer this situation goes on the longer many would question the credibility and seriousness of the clean-emission lobby.

It is about time to unify carbon-emission standards for motorcars globally.

This could be done by UN-sponsored agreement binding to all carmakers which includes a clause for clean fuel to be used in third world countries over a specific period of time.

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Adel Murad is a senior motoring and business journalist, based in London.

Email: [email protected]