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Commission wants binding cuts on car emissions

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Published 08 February 2007 - Updated 14 February 2007
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Cars climate change CO2 emissions Kyoto Protocol
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The Commission will propose legislation to make European carmakers reduce the average CO2 emissions of new vehicles to 130g/km by 2012, after a voluntary agreement with manufacturers did not achieve its targets. The car industry, as well as green NGOs, rejected the new plans.

The new strategy (which will have to be followed up by legislative proposals later) promises to set a binding target for new cars of 120g/km by 2012. Car producers will bear most of the responsibility for this reduction, as they will have to realise new vehicle-technology improvements which should bring their emissions down to 130g/km by that date. The other 10 grammes will have to be reached  through complementary measures such as further use of biofuels, fuel-efficient tyres and air conditioning, traffic and road-safety management and changes in driver behaviour (ecodriving).

The Commission also proposes: 

  • To invest in more research aimed at reducing emissions to an average of 95g CO2/km by 2020;
  • to encourage member states to promote and stimulate the purchase of fuel-efficient vehicles (via labelling and car taxation), and;
  • to demand that car manufacturers sign up to an EU code of good practice on car marketing and advertising to promote more sustainable consumption patterns.

An essential aspect often overlooked in the Commission's new strategy is consumer behaviour and how to influence it. One of the reasons for the lack of progress on vehicle fuel efficiency since 1995 is the fact that Europeans continue to buy bigger cars and that there are very few policies to dissuade consumers from doing so.

Positions: 

Commissioners Verheugen (Enterprise) and Dimas (Environment) both underlined that their new proposal would strengthen the EU's car industry and lead to Europe having "the best, the safest and the cleanest cars". Vice-President Verheugen urged carmakers to see the new strategy "not as a burden" but as a "chance for innovation". Commissioner Dimas, who has been pushing to oblige car manufacturers to reach the 120g/km target by 2012, admitted that he had accepted the "integrated approach" where "other stakeholders", not only the car sector, would have to do their bit, "but the result for the environment will be the same", he said.

A technical briefing for journalists, on the other hand, showed that the Commission has not made much progress on how to translate the policy targets into future legislative proposals. Questions concerning along which lines the Commission is thinking (such as fleet targets per carmaker or by weight?) were systematically ducked. 

European car producers association ACEA called the new targets "arbitrary and too severe". Pointing to significant reductions (13%) that have been achieved, ACEA spokesman Sigrid de Vries told EurActiv that public and European authorities had not delivered on their part of the 1998 voluntary agreement. Neither the labelling nor tax measures to stimulate consumers to buy fuel-efficient cars were put in place in time, he said. 

ACEA Secretary-General Ivan Hodac warned that new legislative measures could have serious implications for the EU's car sector's competitiveness and jobs and will also lead to higher prices.

Green NGO T&E (European Federation for Transport and Environment) condemned the Commission's proposal, saying the "weakening of an eleven-year-old climate target" will lead to "100 million tonnes of additional CO2 emissions over the period 2012-2020".

John Hontelez, secretary-general of the European Environmental Bureau (EEB) said: "The Commission has rewarded carmakers' refusal to make fuel efficiency a priority with a more lenient standard than is needed to stop the continuing growth of greenhouse-gas emissions from cars in Europe. This undermines the Commission’s resolve to lead, regionally and globally, on fighting climate change."

Next steps: 
  • The Parliament and the Council will be consulted on this new strategy.
  • By the end of 2007 or beginning of 2008, the Commission will prepare draft legislation to implement the strategy. Before presenting this legislation, the Commission will consult with stakeholders and undertake a thorough impact assessment.
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Background: 

In 1995, the EU set itself an ambitious goal of reducing emissions of carbon dioxide from new cars to 120 grammes per kilometre (g/km) as a measure to combat climate change. The Commission tried to achieve this target through a voluntary agreement with European car manufacturers, who promised to gradually improve the fuel efficiency of their new cars.

The 1998 voluntary agreement  between ACEA (the EU's Automobile Manufacturers Association) and the Commission included a commitment by the carmakers to achieve a target of 140g/km by 2008. Japanese and Korean car producers made a similar commitment for 2009.

Although significant progress was made, average emissions fell only from 186g/km in 1995 to 163g/km in 2004. The Commission therefore decided that the voluntary commitments did not achieve their target and that binding legislation would be necessary. 

The presentation of the new strategy on 7 February has been preceded by heavy lobbying from both the car industry and green NGOs. The German car industry, which is the world's global leader in heavy luxury cars (with higher CO2 emissions), made strident efforts to convince its government to intervene in the new strategy. As a result of these lobbying efforts, the strategy's presentation was twice postponed because of serious divisions within the Commission's own services (see EurActiv 22 Jan 2007).

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