On Wednesday 8 November, the European Commission published an eagerly awaited draft regulation on average EU CO2 emissions post-2020 for new private cars and light vans as part of the second clean mobility package (see other article) with a view to accelerating the transition to low-carbon transport, as required by the Paris Climate Agreement, and to maintain European industry’s competitiveness and innovation so it doesn’t get outstripped by China, which is planning to bring 7 million electric cars on the market by 2025.
To this end, the European institution suggested that the EU should have an emission reduction target of 30% for 2030 for cars and vans on the 2021 level (in other words compared with 95 g/km for cars and 147g/km for vans under the current EU rules), with an intermediate objective of -15% for 2025.
Along with this, there would be a system to encourage the introduction onto the market for zero or low-carbon vehicles, which would enable manufacturers putting clean vehicles on the market in future (emitting zero to 50 g/CO2/km) to benefit from zero emission as ‘recompense´ that looks like the right for the rest of their fleet to pollute more. This recompense in terms of credits would, however, be capped at 5% a year in order to ensure the environmental integrity of the proposal, explains the Commission.
No compulsory quotas for electric vehicles are planned. The Commission preferred to suggest 'benchmarks' of 15% of a manufacturer’s fleet for 2025 to 2029 and 30% in 2030 in order to allow are manufacturers free to choose the technology they want to use and to reward those that beat the benchmarks.
Emission controls will be stepped up. Under the draft regulation, the European Commission will check that the gap between laboratory and real driving tests does not exceed 20%. To this end, it will use fuel measurement counters that vehicles will have to be equipped with in the future. The Commission says the amount of fuel used indicates the level of emissions.
The regulation will be revised in 2024 to enable the objectives to be adjusted where necessary if the gap is not respected in the light of aggregated data on fuel consumption.
Manufacturers not respecting the regulation’s objective would be fined €95 for each gram of overshoot.
Unveiling the proposal, based on an in-depth impact assessment, the Commission has put an end to conjecture in recent years about its ambitions and ability to resist the siren calls of Germany and the car industry.
Pointing out that transport accounts for a quarter of greenhouse gas emissions in the EU, the European Commission vice-president responsible for Energy Union, Maros Sefcovic, told the European press that the clean mobility package had the ‘label of leadership’ for the EU to remain the world leader in adjusting to climate change and for European industry to be the world leader. He said the range of measures sent a strong signal to Europe to ‘catch up with the Chinese and innovate at a much faster pace.’
‘We need to act to restore consumer trust. These targets are ambitious, cost-effective, achievable.’ said Climate Action and Energy Commissioner Miguel Arias Canete, adding that the objectives are part of the EU's commitment under the Paris Climate Agreement to cut greenhouse gas emissions by at least 40% on 1990 levels by 2030. He said intermediate targets for 2025 would stimulate investment and the targets for 2030 would ensure stability for pursuing investment. He added that the transport, agriculture, buildings and waste sectors would not covered by the carbon trading system and need to cut their emissions by 30% by 2030.
In response to questions from journalists about why a quota of electric cars had been abandoned, the Commissioner said the European Commission was concerned about being neutral technologically and the proposal would lead to some 3 million electric cars by 2030, the rest being combustion engines.
As for why the European Commission has not followed the seven most malicious member states (see EUROPE 11896) given that car manufacturers have fiddled pollution tests by using invalidation mechanisms, Cañete said the answer was simple – the Commission’s proposal uses the targets set for the climate and energy in October 2014 and its assessment of the share to be provided by transport
The proposed new standards for lorries, buses and shuttle services to be unveiled by the Commission in 2018 would, he said, allow the EU to meet its targets.
Transport Commissioner Violetta Bulc said the new CO2 standards would cut fuel consumption and allow consumers to save €1,500 over a vehicle’s lifetime.
The proposal disappoints everyone who in recent days has called for much greater reductions in emission, ranging from 40% to 60%%, and for binding rules for new vehicles in order to respect the Paris Climate Agreement, namely environmental NGOs, the Greens in the European Parliament and the seven most ambitious member states.
MEP Karima Delli (Greens/EFA, France) said that in the midst of the COP23 negotiations, the proposed CO2 emissions reductions seriously undermined the EU's credibility and would not allow the EU's own climate legislation to be respected, exempting the transport sector from any effort to achieve the Paris Climate Agreement. Delli chairs the European Parliament’s transport committee.
The draft regulation has been welcomed by the right at the European Parliament and the Association of European Car Manufacturers (ACEA). MEP Peter Liese (EPP, Germany) referred to the European Commission proposal as a good basis for negotiations. The ACEA also sees it as a good basis for negotiations and welcomes the fact that the date for the new targets has been set for 2030: ‘This is consistent with the timings already agreed by the EU heads of states with the 2030 Climate and Energy Framework,’ but says ‘the 30% reduction level proposed by the Commission is overly challenging.’ (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)