This paper proposes an assessment of air pollution that results from the EU truck cartel. Over the period 1997-2011, the cartelized truck manufacturers coordinated themselves to introduce new vehicles at the latest time when the emission standard became mandatory despite the much earlier availability of technology. This agreement has the direct consequence of raising air polluting and CO2 emissions. We show that the cartel, which accounted for 90% of heavy goods vehicle sales in Europe over 14 years, is responsible for an amount of excess emissions equal to 14,318,510 tons of gases that are toxic to humans and amplify the greenhouse effect. According to our econometric models, (i) the cartel increases significantly air pollution, with (ii) a negative impact on the indicator of infant health for the most exposed countries during 4 years.