Average CO2 emissions of new cars sold in 2016 were 118.1g CO /km. This represents a decrease of 1.4 g CO /km (1.2%), compared to the previous year, but this improvement in fuel efficiency is still well below previous years, according to provisional data published on Thursday 20 April by the European Environment Agency (EEA).
The 1.4 grammes (g) of carbon dioxide (CO2) per kilometre (km) reduction compared to 2015 actually constitutes the smallest annual improvement recorded over the last decade.
Official emissions have, however, decreased by more than 22g CO /km or 16% since 2010, when an updated monitoring system started under the current EU regulation on reducing emissions from new cars.
Still a lot to be done. The EEA says that the EU has certainly done better with regard to its target of 130 g CO /km set for 2015, but it is clear than car manufacturers have to pull out all the stops over the next five years to achieve the second average emissions target of 95 g CO /km by 2021.
The main data for 2016 are as follows:
- With an average of 118.1 g CO /km, new cars sold in 2016 emitted more than 23 g CO /km above the 2021 target;
- A total of 14.7 million new passenger cars were registered, an increase of almost 7% compared to 2015. Registrations increased in all EU Member States except in the Czech Republic, the Netherlands and Slovenia.
- For the second successive year, the share of diesel vehicle sales declined and in 2016 fell below 50% of new sales - the lowest share of new sales since 2009 according to the official statistics. While the overall share of diesel vehicle sales fell, absolute sales still increased by more than 192,300 vehicles compared to 2016, according to provisional data. However, diesel cars still remain the most sold vehicle type in the EU representing 49.4% of new sales, followed by petrol vehicles (47%), and alternatively fuelled vehicles (3.3%, including electric vehicles).
- Sales of battery electric vehicles continued to increase in 2016, but at a significantly slower rate than in earlier years. Around 64,000 pure battery-electric vehicles were registered, a 13% increase compared to sales of 57 000 in 2015. The largest number of registrations were recorded in France (22,689 vehicles), Germany (11,472 vehicles) and the United Kingdom (10,268).
- Electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles together still remain a small fraction of total sales, accounting for 1.1% of all new cars sold in the EU.
This provisional data is collected and published online by the EEA under EU regulation 443/2009 establishing performance standards for emissions from new passenger cars as part of the Community’s integrated approach to reduce CO2 emissions for light vehicles. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)