[1][2][3] The alliance aims to provide independent and rigorous data that will help consumers and policymakers reduce the negative impact that motor vehicles have on urban air quality.
"[2] Another co-founder Massimo Fedeli said: "It gives easy to understand, at-a-glance information on actual vehicle emissions in towns and cities.
[4] The AIR Index gives individual vehicle models an A, B, C, D or E rating, and correspondingly colour-coded as green, yellow-green, yellow, amber or red (in a similar way to the European Union energy label system used for domestic appliances).
[5][4][3] The rating is based on the number of milligrams per kilometre (mg/km) of NOx emitted as follows: A (green) = 0-80, B (yellow-green) = 80-168, C (yellow) = 168-270, D (amber) = 270-600 and E (red) = 600 and above.
[4] The leader of the West Virginia University team that discovered some of the early evidence of the Volkswagen Dieselgate scandal, Dan Carder, director of their Center for Alternative Fuels, Engines and Emissions, said: "If the AIR Index had been implemented 15 years ago, Dieselgate would likely not have happened.