Brussels, 11/02/2014 (Agence Europe) - The EU regulation laying down the details on achieving the legislative objective of reducing CO2 emisions from light commercial vehicles by 2020 has been adopted. This text confirms that, by that time, the average objective for each fleet of newly registered light commercial vehicles in the EU must have been brought down to 147 gm/km (from 203 gr/km currently). The formal adoption of this regulation was just a formality, which was carried out without debate on Tuesday 11 February, on the sidelines of the General Affairs Council.
More specifically, the text provides for the average target for each manufacturer's fleet of commercial vehicles with an unladen weight of more than 2.610 tonnes and 3.5 tonnes loaded to be reduced to 175 g/km after 2017 and 147 g/km by 2020. The objective will also apply to manufacturers which have produced more than 1,000 vehicles in the previous calendar year. Manufacturers which fail to meet this target will face sanctions. The text also acknowledges that the target must be tightened up further by 2025. The regulation will be re-examined by the Commission before the end of 2015 with a view to setting a target for post-2020. In order to achieve their targets, producers will be able to take advantage of a “super-credits” system up to 2018, which will work in favour of vehicles emitting less than 50 g/km of CO2 in order to encourage innovation. After 2018, however, these credits will no longer apply. (AN/transl.fl)