Brussels, 03/10/2013 (Agence Europe) - On Friday 4 October we will know whether ambassadors from EU member states have formally endorsed the average CO2 emissions reduction targets from new cars and vans up to 2020, namely 95 g/km for cars and 147 g/km for vans (see EUROPE 10932).
The Presidency of the Council of the EU decided to submit a formal political agreement to COREPER on Friday. This agreement was reached at the end of June in a trilogue meeting on two draft regulations for tackling climate change. This endorsement had initially been planned for June as a simple formality but was deferred at the request of Germany and supported by several delegations, much to the consternation of environmentalists and climate activists. Things have somewhat changed since then and Croatia's accession to the EU could impact on the calculation of the qualified majority required for adopting the compromise.
Whatever happens and despite new attempts by the German delegation to introduce further flexibility to the modalities for applying the targets set out for light utility vehicles, a senior European official confirmed that the texts to be submitted to the EU28, will effectively be those from the two trilogue meetings.
Spare parts suppliers support targets. Just before the ambassadors' meeting, CLEPA (European Association of Automotive Suppliers) called on member states to approve without delay, the two political agreements. CLEPA believes that the 2020 targets provide investments in a legally stable environment that will stimulate innovation by car manufacturers and spare parts suppliers and that the production of low fuel consuming vehicles can create highly skilled jobs, a real windfall in this period of economic decline.
“CLEPA believes that the 95 g/km for cars and 147 g/km for vans targets are the best compromise between costs and CO2 emission reductions and they will help strengthening the competitive advantage of the European automotive industry. The retention of super credits and eco-innovation for low emission vehicles will boost the development of breakthrough technologies”, said Jean Marc Gales, CLEPA CEO. According to Gales, “Smart regulation would bring about safer, greener and more interconnected cars that would reinforce the European technological leadership”.
CLEPA points out that although the European automotive suppliers industry is a global technology leader, this is largely due to its yearly investments of €18 billion in innovation. CLEPA emphasises that the European car market is declining and will stay at the current low level for the next 2 years, at least and that direct job losses among suppliers will have further consequences alongside the supply chain and for the entire economy.
It is estimated that in the case of closures of 10 vehicle manufacturers' plants with an average of 2,500 employees this will entail around 75,000 redundancies in the suppliers industry and in total 100,000 direct job losses in the automotive industry. (AN/transl.fl)