Hello, I'm Laurel Henning, Emlex's senior energy correspondent based in Brussels.

If you're new to Emlex's podcast, then welcome along. And if you've been tuning in to our

previous podcasts, welcome back. Today we're going to be discussing air quality, and in particular,

pollution in the policymaking capital of Europe.

As UN Environment Ministers meet in Nairobi this week for the UN's Environment Assembly to discuss pollution and forest protection under the theme towards a pollution-free planet,

it's another day of heavy traffic and poor air quality here in Brussels. But one

environmental law firm is trying to change that. Last month, Client Earth's legal action against

Brussels came to a head in a court hearing here in this city. Brussels is failing to uphold the air

quality laws born in the city, the firm argues, and while the city has tried to

pass the buck to national authorities. Joining me now is M-Lex intern Isabella Alves, who has been

following the case. Hi, Isabella. Hi, Laurel. Isabella, a lot of people listening today will be

reminded of how the issue of regional and national air quality has become quite infamous over the last couple of years since 2015

when Dieselgate came to the fore and Volkswagen's use of emissions cheating software.

What's the link here between Dieselgate and the case we're talking about today?

So with Dieselgate, as you said, it was all about emissions cheating.

And this is similar to the Brussels court case because Klein Earth's chief complaint is about improper emissions testing.

So with Dieselgate, it was all about software being used in the lab testing that kind of got around the reality of the actual emissions being

emitted on the road.

And so with Brussels, the emission monitoring system isn't accurate, according to client Earth,

because client Earth is saying that the monitoring systems and monitoring stations need to be

at least 25 meters bounds of a crossroad and in the most trafficked areas in Brussels like

Rue de la Lois and Beliard, which are just high traffic congested areas because the monitoring systems now,

...