Due to more and more stringent emission regulations the optimisation of transient engine operation becomes necessary for future Diesel engine developments. Exemplary for the transient operation a step in acceleration pedal is investigated and optimised with respect to the engine emissions. This gives insights about the emission formation at transient driving and a benchmark for the design of open and closed-loop controls. A model structure to simulate the engine emissions and the engine torque is presented. It consists of a dynamical mean value air path model and a stationary combustion model. Thus the relevant outputs NO x , soot and torque are simulated with respect to the engine actuators. For optimisation the calibrated emission values for steady state are regarded. The actuators of the air path and the crank angle of the main injection are optimised such that the emissions follow a desired trajectory. The results are compared to a non-optimised step in acceleration and to a nonlinear closed loop control of the air path.