Diesel ( and petrol)engine emissions have been massively reduced in the last 16 years.
The current version is the Euro6 standard
http://www.theaa.com/motoring_advice/fuels-and-environment/euro-emissions-standards.html
All Diesel and petrol engines sold in the EU since 2015 have to be Euro6 compliant.
Euro6 Nitrogen dioxide( NOX ) emmisions have been cut by over 90% since the first Euro standard in 1998.
Diesel and Petrol NOX emmisions are now almost the same , see the tables in my link. Diesels are actually more fuel efficient than petrol and emit less CO2 , so the overall 'emission package ' for modern Euro6 diesels is lower than for petrol.
The next standard will be Euro7 which cuts emissions by another 50%
As the older diesels are scrapped the pollutants will drop further.
In addition to the lower NOX emission, all current diesels also have particulate filters which reduce particulate emission to virtually zero.