Brussels, 27/11/2013 (Agence Europe) - On the evening of Tuesday 26 November, an informal political agreement was reached between the European Parliament, the Presidency of the Council and the European Commission to postpone until 2022 the implementation of the objective, laid down by legislation for 2020, of reducing CO2 emissions from the fleet of new cars to 95 g/kilometre, but this postponement of the phase-in of the legislation will go hand-in-hand with an incentive to builders of large saloon cars, such as the German car builders, to innovate and invest in clean vehicles.
This new compromise is the way found by the Parliament and the Lithuanian Presidency to tinker with the detail - and quickly - of the inter-institutional political agreement reached on 25 June of this year on the draft regulation laying down the application rules for the average objective of 95 g/kilometre by 2020 for the fleet of vehicles newly registered within the EU. This was requested by the Environment Council on 15 October, calling for the dossier to be reopened to meet Germany's wishes and try to get round the blocking minority which has risen up since then, but without compromising the chances of reaching an agreement at first reading on the text before the end of the year (see EUROPE 10943). The content of the informal agreement in trialogue is to be presented to the ambassadors of the 28 on Friday 29 November, “for analysis of the text”, within Coreper, a high-level European civil servant explained on Wednesday.
Basically, the binding regulatory objective of 95 g/kilometre will be fully in force by the end of 2020, rather than at the start of the year as provided for by EU legislation currently in force, but this period can be extended until 2022 by the “super-credits” system granted to the builders of the least-polluting cars.
Readers may recall that Germany was calling for greater flexibility and incentives for the period 2020-2023. During the talks, the negotiating team of the European Parliament limited the phase-in stage which had been proposed for the binding objective of 95 g/kilometre to 95% of new cars and a single year: 2020. The super-credits, in other words, favourable weightings for the cleanest cars within a manufacturer's range, will be authorised from 2020 to 2022, but these will be limited to 7.5 g/kilometre for that period.
“Our objective was to stand firm and not weaken our targets, in order not to hold back innovation in the car industry and EU efforts against climate change. We accepted a very limited phase-in one year only, combined with super-credits. We regret that some member states in the Council have tried to delay confirmation of a deal between the institutions. This could have dragged the procedure out until the next Parliament, while the automotive sector needs long-term certainty for its investments”, said Matthias Groote (S&D, Germany), chair of the committee on the environment of the Parliament. He added: “Council's attitude also sets a dangerous precedent among the institutions. We must ensure that this doesn't happen again. Parliament has done its job, and we now expect the Council to do likewise”. Thomas Ulmer (EPP, Germany), rapporteur, welcomed the agreement reached. “We fought for a good agreement, combining flexibility for manufacturers, protection for the environment, and the best interests of consumers. This is a good deal for the three parties involved”, he argued.
Greenpeace immediately reacted by lambasting this “poor agreement” which will “further dilute carbon emission standards”. The environmental NGO explained that this compromise will defer by three years the implementation of emissions limits as, “under the phase-end, the most polluting 5% of each manufacturer's cars will not be required to comply with emissions standards until 2021”. Additionally, “these super-credits, which can be used until 2022, mean carmakers can overshoot the standard without paying any penalties”, Greenpeace laments. (AN/transl.fl)