Parliament urges restraint on car CO2 cuts[fr][de] 

CO2 reductions should be addressed through improvements in vehicle technology alone, but this will require more time than current Commission proposals allow for, MEPs stressed in a non-binding legislative report, drafted by German Liberal MEP Jorgo Chatzimarkakis and backed by a broad majority on 15 January. 

Because the development of new models usually takes between five to seven years, MEPs said car manufacturers should have until 2015 to achieve an average output of 125 grams of CO2 per kilometre driven. The Commission had proposed a target of 130 grams per kilometre by 2012 through vehicle technology, with a further 10g/km reduction expected to come from improvements in other areas including tyres, fuels and eco-driving. 

Parliament's report further underlines carmakers' argument that the slow pace in cutting CO2 emissions over the past decade is partly down to an increase in vehicle weight caused by stringent new safety standards set at EU level. MEPs therefore suggest that the Commission develop a system that allows cars to emit additional CO2 if these are a result of legally binding safety measures. 

They also insist that legislation should include measures to increase member-state funding for research and development in the automobile sector. 

While the Chatzimarkakis report is not binding, MEPs will, later this year, have an important say on concrete measures for reducing CO2 from passenger vehicles, presented last December by EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas. 

Their insistence on taking precautions so as not to harm Europe's automotive industry is likely to satisfy Germany in particular, where resistance to the plans is growing at the highest level. German Chancellor Angela Merkel recently slammed the draft law, saying: "This is industrial policy at Germany's expense." 

What's more, in an apparent sign of his disapproval of the targets, Germany's EU Commissioner for Industry, Günter Verheugen, missed the formal presentation of the draft legislation in December. On Monday (14 January), he told MEPs: "All industries should be made as environmentally-friendly as technologically possible, but I don't think we should do it in a way that our international competitiveness in undermined". He added that too strict a regulation could lead to the "emigration" of industry elsewhere, where less stringent environmental rules are applied. 

For their part, Green MEPs were outraged by the watering down of environmental targets for the automobile industry, saying the "approach flies in the face of the EP's attempts to position itself as a leader in tackling climate change".