The Commission presented a draft EU regulation to reduce average CO2 emissions from new vans yesterday (28 October).
According to the EU executive, vans account for around 12% of the market for light-duty vehicles and should therefore be covered by its strategy to reduce vehicle emissions.
Yesterday's proposal follows similar legislation governing CO2 emissions from passenger cars, which was agreed last year and came into force in April 2009 (EurActiv 02/12/08).
The draft proposes a 175g CO2/km limit for new vans registered in the EU from 2016. While the proposed limit is the same as in earlier drafts, manufacturers have been given four more years to comply, with earlier proposals imposing the target from 2012. CO2 emissions from vans currently average 200g/km.
A further intermediate limit of 160g/km for 2016 was also dropped.
The 2020 target is set at 135g CO2/km, but may not be mandatory as suggested by previous drafts.
Phase-in period
The Commission is proposing that the 175g CO2/km target be phased in from 2014 according to indicative emissions established for each van according to its weight, based on an emissions limit curve in the draft regulation. Each manufacturer's target will be calculated "as the average of the indicative emissions of all the vans for which it is responsible in a given year," the proposal reads.
The draft proposes that from 2014, manufacturers must ensure that 75% of their vehicles have average emissions below their target of 80% as of 2015.
Only fleet average regulated
The draft regulation's limit value curve is set in such a way that a fleet-wide average of 175g CO2/km is achieved for the EU as a whole.
This means that only the fleet average is regulated, allowing manufacturers to make vehicles with emissions above the limit value curve "provided these are balanced by other vehicles which are below the curve".
Lower fines
The proposal foresees penalties for auto makers that fail to comply with the regulation. But "most manufacturers are expected to meet the target set by the legislation, so significant penalties should be avoided," the Commission stated.
The fines will vary according to "the degree of exceedance" of a manufacturer's average emission limit levels. Fines are proposed amounting to €5 for the first excess gramme, €15 for the second, €25 for the third and €120 for subsequent grammes.
An earlier draft had set the fine at €120 per excess gramme.
Industry lobbying pays off
Earlier this month, France, Germany and Italy called on the EU executive to weaken or delay the proposals, arguing that the time was not right to impose such measures (EurActiv 14/10/09). EU Industry Commissioner Günter Verheugen also backed powerful automakers' calls to soften the proposal.
The industry had also hoped to see the dossier handed over to the next Commission, but environmental NGOs like Greenpeace and Transport & Environment (T&E) lobbied heavily for it to be published by the current one.
