The Volkswagen diesel scandal left lasting imprints on the entire automotive industry, and may have changed the way regulators look at vehicles using the fuel forever.

That’s true not just in the United States, but elsewhere as well. The European Union is now increasing its efforts to make sure a scandal like Volkswagen’s can never happen again.

EU ministers have agreed to a new draft of rules and regulations for approving cars in the countries that make up the trade bloc; they give the European Commission more power in such circumstances.

Under the current system, national agencies such as Germany’s KBA have the authority to give new cars a pass for the entire European Union, according to Reuters.National bodies also have the power to revoke the rights to sell a vehicle should a controversy arise.

However, the newly drafted rules hand additional power to Brussels—a move Germany itself and its powerful car industry aren’t keen about.

German junior economic minister Matthias Machnig told his national counterparts Germany is in favor of increased oversight. But, he said, the country remained wary over conflict of interest.

The changes to testing and approving new vehicles for sale in the EU come in response to Volkswagen’s deceit in the United States.

The German automaker used “defeat devices” in order to pass federal emission tests, and carried out a multi-year cover-up of that fact to continue selling its diesel-powered cars and SUVs.

The devices were programmed to comply with regulations for 23 minutes—exactly how long the EPA regulatory test takes. At minute 24, the NOx levels emitted by Volkswagen and Audi TDI vehicles rose considerably.

Read more: Green Car Reports

Property listings will include traffic light-style pollution warnings in the near future, experts have predicted as they said poor air quality can knock up to 15 per cent off house prices.

Pollution has become a top concern among potential buyers, who are snubbing “unhealthy homes” and have started using sophisticated pollution websites to track air quality.

The trend has prompted calls for new rules which force estate agents to publish traffic light style pollution warnings alongside energy efficiency ratings in property adverts.

A toxic air alert was issued for the first time in London over “very high” pollution levels, sparking major public concern over the health impacts of living in congested areas.

Nearly 9,500 people died early in a single year as a result of long-term exposure to air pollution in London, a Kings College London report claimed.

Concerned buyers have started actively researching granular data through websites which let them track air quality at individual postcodes, they said.

Henry Pryor, a professional home buyer and property agent, said:

“Home buyers used to have a blaze attitude to air pollution but now this has completely changed. People are very concerned and they are suddenly discovering that they can look at two homes at different ends of a street, and one will be more polluted than another.

“I get asked about pollution levels so regularly that I now check it as standard before suggesting a property to clients. If a house is in a highly polluted area, such as near a train line, it might go for a 15 per cent less than a similar property in a less polluted zone.”

Read more: The Telegraph

Diesel drivers will receive compensation to encourage them to scrap or “retrofit” highly polluting vehicles under Conservative plans to reduce emissions to be unveiled later this week.

The Government will on Friday publish its new air quality strategy which will include plans for a “targeted” diesel scrappage scheme, The Telegraph has learned.

Ministers will also consult on plans to give people help with “retrofitting” older, more polluting diesel vehicles to reduce the levels of harmful nitrogen dioxide that they emit.

The Conservatives will warn local authorities against imposing pollution taxes on motorists amid concerns that doing so would “punish” motorists and become an election issue.

It comes after Theresa May, the Prime Minister, said last month that she was “very conscious” that motorists were encouraged to buy diesel cars under Labour more than a decade ago because of concerns about carbon emissions.

A Conservative source said:

“We will help drivers on modest incomes who bought their diesel vehicles in good faith, having been badly advised by the last Labour Government. We are cleaning up Labour’s mess.”

The Government has been forced to come up with tougher measures to target diesel drivers after losing a case against environmental campaigners ClientEarth over breaches of EU emissions standards.

Last week a High Court judge rejected an application by the Government to delay publication of its strategy until after the General Election. Ministers have decided against making an appeal.

Read more: The Telegraph

It has become increasingly more evident that carmakers must take aggressive steps to ensure that diesel cars and light trucks meet current environmental regulations.

Tests done by Emissions Analytics found that the majority of new diesel-powered cars sold in Europe do not meet the Euro 6 emission standards for nitrogen oxides (NOx) in real-world use.

Worse, some of them emitted as much as 12 times the current levels when tested in real-world driving—and didn’t meet even the far lower Euro 3 standards from decades ago.

Diesel vehicles have been under more scrutiny since the world’s largest car manufacturer, Volkswagen Group, was caught using “defeat device” engine-management software to pass tests.

The deception was discovered by the University of West Virginia’s Center for Alternative Fuels Engines and Emissions (CAFEE) during independent research trying to prove that automakers could meet the NOx emissions standards.

Emissions Analytics, like CAFEE, tested vehicles independently under real-world conditions to see if they met the new Euro 6 standards. Their disturbing results are published by the EQUA Index.

The Emissions Analytics real-world tests found that only 16 of 116 diesel vehicles tested meet the Euro 6 emission standards for NOx, as depicted in the EQUA Air Quality Index chart.

Ony 14 additional vehicles would have met the standards even if the less stringent Euro 5 standards were used, giving a total of just 30 vehicles meeting a now-obsolete regulation under real-world driving conditions.

But the most disturbing part of the results may be how many cars exceeded the limits by wide margins.

More than half the 67 vehicles tested met only the decades-old Euro 3 emission limits.

Against the newly imposed Euro 6 limits, 21 of the cars tested exceeded the maximums with emissions that were at least six times the allowable limits.

Ten of the 21 worst-performing cars had emission levels 12 times or more the limits set under the Euro 6 standards.

Read more: Green Car Reports